The Good, The Bad, The Robotic
by Rexcaliburr
Summary: Two malfunctioning robots with a conscience, two mercenaries with powers beyond the natural world, and one man out to kill them all. Trust, betrayal, friendship, and the escape of a lifetime are in store for these four odd mercenaries in the race to save themselves, Mann Co, and all the people they've come to know and love.
1. Chapter 1

Gray wandered along the assembly line, his gaze taking a sweep of the many lines of Medibots that stood before him, deactivated. Behind him trailed a Mecha-Engineer, obediently following the wiry old man like a dog, eager to serve anything that was asked of it.

The old man continued to walk along the line of robots, all built to serve at his command. He had big plans for them, but those plans had to wait. Something else bothered him, something about Mann Co. Well, Mann Co had _always_ bothered him, but two specific mercenaries belonging to that wretched Saxton Hale bothered him most.

" _What exactly are you looking for, Maker?"_ The Mecha-Engineer asked quietly. It had just been asked to follow him, and so he did. But Gray hardly ever just wanted company for company. There was always a purpose, and up till now Gray hadn't shown it.

Gray paused, turning to take a good look at one of the Medibots on the line. It looked like any other. Cold, soulless, polished and ready to go once it was powered it. He snorted and kept on walking, not giving the Mecha-Engineer an answer. The robot behind him lapsed into silence again, deciding against pressing on for an answer.

"You know Makina, don't you?" Gray asked, as he continued to walk, pausing every so often to inspect a Medibot before walking on.

Everyone knew Makina. He was the malfunctioning Sniperbot that'd somehow become Gray's personal assistant. None of the bots knew how, or why, but no one ever questioned it. The Mecha-Engineer nodded.

"I want to assign him a personal Medibot for all his repairs and whatnot. I need one that's built to last." If anything, Makina was old. A lot older than most other bots. All the bots Gray had created were meant to last up to 3 days of intense physical action, a week without it if they were active, and maybe 3 weeks if inactive. Most of the bots he'd sent out before to fight Mann Co never came back. No reason to build robots with materials made to last if they were just going to get destroyed.

The Mecha-Engineer remained silent for a moment, thought processes running to try and come up with a solution. Of course, there was always the option of building a new Medibot from scratch. _"Well I can-"_

"Actually…" Gray cut the bot off before it could speak, heading to a control panel. "I want you to find me a bot that acts the same way as Makina. Find it, upgrade it so it lasts, and return to me when you're done."

At once the Mecha-Engineer sprang into action, beginning to tap on the control panel. It started up all the bots on the assembly line, all of them raising their heads as their eyes lit up, cold and blue all over. The entire room seemed to get a bit brighter with all the light.

On the screen of the control panel every bot standing was identified as a circle arranged in neat rows of fifty by five. The Mecha-Engineer did a little more tapping, keying in lines of codes. One of the circles among the throng of them on the screen lit up red. Presumably, the Mecha-Engineer had entered a code that searched for a specific bug within the bots's systems. It was a protocol that was done on each batch of bots, but not a search for such a specific glitch. It was a one of a kind glitch, a rare one that hardly showed up. It had only started with Makina, but it seems that Gray had gotten lucky by finding a Medibot with the same thing.

" _Medibot ID 208-07, Maker. The same glitch as Makina,"_ The robot reported. It looked to Gray for its next orders, lit blue eyes unblinking.

A malicious grin formed on Gray's thin, cracked lips, that were almost as pale as his name. Being over a hundred years old and only living off a supply of Australium drilled into his spine did not make you look any younger. "Perfect," he snarled. "Get it upgraded and bring it to me when you're done." Having given the bot its orders, he turned around and stalked out of the assembly room, leaving the Mecha-Engineer to get to work.

Having worked tirelessly for hours, the Mecha-Engineer was as proud as a robot could feel when it stepped back to take a look at the deactivated Medibot in front of it. It looked the same, felt the same, but all its inner gears and wiring and systems had been replaced with good, high-quality parts. Stuff that was meant to last for years if kept properly. It was time to activate it and show Gray the work.

The metallic Engineer pressed a switch on the back control panel of the Medibot, waiting patiently as it powered it. Its head lifted up, eyes brightening as it turned active. The robot took a moment to start up, giving the room a quick glance before settling its gaze on the Mecha-Engineer.

" _You… activated me?"_ It asked. The Mecha-Engineer nodded, turning to lead the new Medibot to see Gray.

" _Yes, I did. The Maker wants to see you now."_

Medibot wasn't sure what to feel about that. Wait- feel? Robots couldn't feel, but why was there a certain sense of fear tingling inside him as he followed the metal man out?

Makina was standing next to Gray's desk silently as Gray waited for the Mecha-Engineer to return to him. The Sniperbot had gone idle, conserving his battery power as he waited for this 'surprise' Gray had told him about. In all four months of his life he had never had a surprise, except when Gray made him his assistant instead of sending him to the incinerator for being broken.

Gray was busying himself with flipping through two folders on his desk. Makina had no idea what was in the files, or what they were for, but they were presumably important, for Gray kept them locked in a drawer where no one but himself could get it. Makina had asked once what the files were about, but all he had gotten was Gray telling him he'd find out soon enough.

Gray looked up and Makina snapped out of idle mode when someone knocked on the office door. The wiry old man let whoever it was enter, a small smile breaking out onto his face as the Mecha-Engineer stepped in with the Medibot in tow.

"Good that you've finally arrived. Makina, I'm assigning this Medibot to you personally. You will see it for all repairs and whatever," Gray explained. For a moment the two robots stared at each other. Both of them were capable of feelings, yet neither of them were sure how to feel about this.

" _So… I don't just stop any Medibot anymore? I have to go to this one personally?"_ Makina asked. Gray nodded.

"Yes." He took a quick moment to dismiss the Mecha-Engineer. "Now, I've arranged for some robots to clear out a small room that this Medibot can make an office in. It's the small one along the level 6 hall, just turning out to R&D. You know the one. Take it there," He instructed Makina.

Makina didn't particularly like how Gray called Medibot an 'it'. He didn't mind when he did it to other normal bots but he knew what was going on with Medibot and he didn't like it. He'd make an effort to call the Medibot as a he.

He nodded, leading the Medibot out of the office and down to the so-called 'office'. It was a closet really, but in there had been nothing but dust and cobwebs in there for however long. By the time the two got down to the room, it had been cleaned out already and a table shifted in.

" _So… I assume zhis is it?"_ Medibot asked. He wandered inside, taking a look at everything. It must have been a real privilege to have his own office. He noticed none of the other Medibots had an office of their own.

" _Yep. So uhm… I'll come by and see ya later. Gray probably wants me to do something. See ya, Doc."_ The Sniperbot turned and left the Medibot to himself, the latter watching him go as he considered several things.

The office had to be filled with things. A recharging station, for one. And second, had the Sniperbot really just called him something other than Medibot? That was something to think about. Quietly, he closed the door and got to moving things around the dimly lit office.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews and follows guys! I've uploaded cover art for the story. Full resolution is on my DeviantArt Rexcaliburr.**

After bringing the Medibot to his new so-called office Makina returned to Gray, in case he had any work set out for him. Which he did.

"You know, you kept asking me what's in these files," Gray said, waving the two files in his hand. Makina watched on with nothing to say, deciding it was better to just let Gray talk first. "And I kept telling you you'd find out in good time. Well, your patience has paid off and it's time we move beyond the planning stages. We're not quite into execution yet, because there's some scouting around to be done. And that's where you come in."

Makina remained where he was by the door, until Gray stood up and extended the files to him. The robot slowly approached, feeling certain joints strain. He'd have to get that oiled again later. He took the files, hesitating a moment before opening them. Gray sat back down at his seat, sighing.

When he flipped them open, all he got was the battlefield reports and physical examination papers of two mercenaries, one from RED, and one from BLU. There were images of them on the battlefield, paperwork that contained all their information. How Gray had gotten his hands on this he had no idea. _"I don't understand."_

Gray shook his head, producing a VCR tape from the drawer. He put it into the player that sat on his desk, and after a few moments of whirring, the screen of the tape player lit up and began to roll whatever was recorded onto it.

Makina watched what was apparently the CCTV footage of Decoy, that stupid place some RED mercenary had built under the idea that it would distract the bots from going to their real base. In hindsight it had worked. The entire place was quiet say for a crop of six mercenaries wandering around the area, setting up, preparing for battle. There was a Pyro, a Demoman, a Heavy, a Medic, an Engineer, and a Scout. One thing Makina had noticed was that half of them were REDs and half of them were BLUs.

The tape fast forwarded to when Gray's robots had begun to swarm in. If Makina hadn't been paying attention, he would have missed the Pyro in the corner, his flamethrower suddenly clicking empty. In silent frustration the Pyro shifted his grip on the flamethrower to one hand and raised the other, fire spurting out from seemingly nothing.

Before he had a chance to say anything the tape cut to another point in the battle in which Heavybots were coming in large numbers. Makina swore the mercenaries would have no chance against them, when a shield of pure blue energy generated, the robots fizzling against them when they came into contact with the shield. The source of the energy shield was the BLU Medic.

Everything seemed to fall into place at that moment. _"So… you want me to kill them?"_ Makina asked.

"No. I want you to scout them out for a bit, and when the time is right, we will capture them. Not because I want to cause any harm to them, but I doubt they'd willingly come and talk to me and it's rather important matter that they do."

Makina was pretty convinced that was not the truth that was being told. Nonetheless, he nodded along. Better to just agree to whatever Gray was saying instead of asking questions. He was dismissed to recharge himself. Tomorrow he would make his first trip to go scout out the two mercenaries.

Makina headed back for Medibot's office. The small room had been filled with a recharging station in the corner, some dim lights hung from the ceiling, and a stack of papers the metal Medic had requested for. Soon he would start filling it up with experiments of his own.

The Sniperbot knocked on the door, waiting for Medibot to answer before he entered. _"Hey Doc,"_ he said, getting the other bot to stare at him for a moment.

 _"Herr, vhy do you call me that?"_ Medibot asked.

Makina paused. Did he not like it? He shrugged. _"I don't know. It seems more fitting than just... Medibot."_

Medibot remained silent for a moment. _"Okay, zhat's fine. Just curious."_

Makina would have started telling Medibot about Gray's plans and the two mercenaries if a Scoutbot hadn't stuck his head into the office. _"Hey glasses! Got ya that liver ya wanted!"_ It tossed something squishy at him, Medibot catching it in his smooth, polished hands. He caught the stare Makina was giving him and quickly put the liver into a box.

 _"Ah, zhank you. You can leave now."_ The Scoutbot pulled out of the room and disappeared into the hallways once again.

 _"I shouldn't question, should I?"_ Makina asked, eyeing the box which Medibot had thrown the liver into.

 _"Nein. It's just for a project. Anyvay, you wanted to talk to me, I assume?"_ Medibot asked. Makina nodded.

 _"Yeah. Gray's been planning something for some time. Something about a Medic and a Pyro from Mann Co. They've got some... supernatural abilities. Whether Gray wants to kill them or wants to do something else I have no idea. But he's sending me to scout them out tomorrow."_

Medibot took a little time to process the information. _"So.. vhat you are saying?"_

 _"I'm saying that they might be our chance to get out of here."_

 _"Right- vait, vhat?"_

 _"You heard me."_

Medibot was dumbfounded. He had no clue why Makina would want to do something as risky as trying to leave Gray Industries, much less get the help of Mann Co mercenaries. From what he had heard in his short time active, Mann Co was dangerous and that was why Gray was attacking. To try and get rid of the threat.

Makina realised that Medibot had not been active enough to realise what was happening. None of the other bots knew. Their internal processors were too stupid to know. Whatever bug was suppressing that stupidity had opened his eyes to Gray's intent. _"Listen. Gray isn't the innocent and brave hero here. It might seem like it now but all the bots here have been filled with propaganda and whatever lies Gray is making. Truth is, he's been planning to kill his two brothers - the Mann Brothers - and take over Mann Co. He wants them destroyed."_

 _"But zhey are a threat, are zhey not?"_ Medibot asked. _"Vouldn't anyone van a threat destroyed?"_

Makina shook his head, his joints squeaking a little as he did so. _"They're not. All they're doing is fighting with each other for the land the Mann Brothers bought. What Gray is doing is attacking them - not for the land, but for the company. He wants control over it."_

Medibot stared, unsure of what to say. Was this true? He was still rather skeptical about what Makina had said, but at the same time he could feel that there was some truth to it.

 _"Vell, I uh- I never thought of it zhat vay. But if you say zhat's vhat it is zhen…"_ Well he was inclined to believe it, wasn't he? _"Maybe you should ah, think it over for a bit, ja? If you're wrong zhen ve are in a lot of trouble. Vait and see what he vants to do first."_

He made sense, admittedly. As eager as Makina was to just up and leave as soon as possible he knew that was a recipe of disaster if they were not ready and Medibot was right. _"Fine. I still have to scout them out anyway. But the second I confirm my suspicions, we're getting the mercenaries and we're getting out of here."_

 _"Zhat's fine, Herr. But I vill remind you zhat I'm really not keen on zhis."_

 _"Sure, whatever suits you. Just wait for your consciousness to really set in and you'll see it all."_ The bot turned and got ready to leave. _"I'm going to recharge. I'll see ya tomorrow before I go off."_

Makina left again for the night, his mind already starting to form plans to escape, with or without Medibot and the mercenaries's help.


	3. Chapter 3

Away from the factory of deadly robots the Mann Co mercenaries were preparing strategies to fight back efficiently. The last few battles against the robots Gray had sent had been increasingly difficult.

Miss Pauling spread a map out into the wooden table in front of her blood and oil spattered mercenaries. There were just six of them. The Pyro, Demoman and Engineer were from RED, and the Medic, Heavy and Scout from BLU. It wasn't the most ideal situation seeing as how the first few times they had been tempted to turn guns on each other, but they had settled enough to not be trying to kill each other all day.

"You just can't be everywhere at once," Miss Pauling sighed, staring at the map of all the Mann Co bases that had not already been taken over. "Where, just where will they attack?"

None of the mercenaries said anything. Truth be told, no one knew. The robots were unpredictable and would attack wherever Gray sent them.

"Ye know lass, I still see why we can't just go fight the wee old shite himself. Save ourselves the trouble of fighting his blasted robots," Demoman argued.

"I'd say that was a good idea, but if you reach his factory, we'd be at a disadvantage. We don't know the place and there's bots all over. We don't even know if he is at the factory or not."

"Ye got a point lass, but given the chance I'll cut his bloody head off," Demoman muttered.

Medic sighed. "Vell, vherever zhey're going to attack ve'll be ready. At least ve already know he's going to come here, to Mannhattan. Zhere's only so many entrances."

"Hnnlesh hh dhhccides thh mhhke hishh hwn ehnntrhnnce," Pyro mumbled. So far only Engineer and Demo could translate the mumbling. The BLUs gave them an expectant look.

"He said there's only so many entrances unless Gray makes his own. Probably by blowing up a wall or something," Engineer said. Pyro nodded along, adjusting the steaming dragon skull mask that sat over his gas mask.

Miss Pauling stared at the map in frustration. "You know what, you all can figure it out. Wherever they attack, just be ready." Her standing around not knowing how to help them was no good. Better to just leave them to prepare.

No one knew when they would attack, so they had to be on guard at all times. The team of six nodded, leaving the small crammed room to get fresh air outside.

Scout leapt up onto one of the crates outside, staring into the distance. "Why da hell this stupid Gray guy gotta keep sending robots? Face it, we're too awesome for them! Any of his robots ever go back working? No! The bastard's gotta run out of robots eventually," he snorted, taking off the Beastly Bonnet that say on his head and running a hand through his hair.

"You drink a lot of Bonk. But Bonk does not run out, da? Is same thing Scout," Heavy said, passing the younger and much smaller man.

"Whaddya know, fatty?" Scout hissed after him. Speaking of bonk, he pulled out another can and opened it, letting the sweet energy drink flow into his mouth. Oh man, that tasted great. He licked the too-sweet drink off his lips, staring at the faint outline of the factory in the distance.

That thing was nothing but trouble. He had a silent wish to just go and blow the entire facility up, but it was a dream that was impossible to achieve, at least not yet. There were probably more facilities elsewhere anyway, filled with robots ready to charge at any moment's notice.

A familiar distant mumbling had the Scout turning his head to watch the Pyro practicing against the Medic. Scout had known a long time ago that the Medic wasn't the same as RED's, in the sense that his healing was not done purely by technology, but rather just amplified by it. He had questioned the good doctor about it before, but the older man never bothered to give a too in depth response, probably because Scout asked at all the wrong times.

A few days after the six of them had teamed up did Scout find out that the RED Pyro had a sort of similar supernatural ability to generate fire from his palms. It wasn't as useful as a flamethrower's flames seeing as how the range was much shorter, but it was fascinating to watch the Pyro practice nonetheless.

If Scout had not known better he would have though the two mercenaries were really fighting. Pyro shot bursts of flame continuously at Medic, who defended himself with ease with small shields of energy, but neither of them had the intention of hurting each other, even if it looked that way.

The young BLU watched in fascination from where he sat, studying carefully how each burst of fire started as a small spark in the middle of Pyro's palm before it grew bigger and was fired. Even if it seemed like Medic was not ready at all, he always managed to defend himself just in time, the flames dissipating into the smoke before him.

After a few more hits, Pyro stopped, doubling over for a bit to catch his breath. He straightened up once more, giving Medic a thumbs up and readjusting the steaming Pyromancer's mask that sat on top of his gas mask. No one could really explain how the thing was steaming but no one questioned it. Such was the way of Unusuals.

Medic sighed and leaned back against a crate. "Herr Pyro, I swear you do zhis just to tire me out," he complained. Pyro shrugged.

"Hh's nhht mhh fhhlt yhrr ohhld," Pyro mumbled, trying to suppress a laugh when he realised the BLU had no clue what he just said. He opened the front ventilator of his mask, though any facial features were still concealed by shadows and the muzzle of the dragon skull mask. "'S not my fault you're old," he repeated.

"Vhat- I'm not zhat old," Medic sulked. When Scout caught wind of hearing the Pyro speak clearly for once, he came bounding over.

"Duuuuude!" The scrapper said, leaping on top of the crate Medic was leaning on. "I knew it! You're a dude. Man, Heavy's gonna owe me ten bucks," Scout cried gleefully. "Hey hey Pyro, why don't ya take off the entire mask?"

Pyro hesitated, unsure of the request. He'd taken it off before, but that was only around his own team. This request was on a whole new level. These were BLUs they were talking about, and Pyro wasn't sure if heeding to Scout's plea would break the terms of his contract. Deciding it was too much of a risk, he shook his head.

"Sorry Scout, it's not gonna happen," Pyro said. Scout made a face and pouted. Man, the BLU Pyro never said a word except when on the battlefield, and he desperately wanted to know who was behind the mask, even if this was a RED. Wait, did he? What if it was some English-speaking alien? What if he had to kill everyone who saw him maskless? Pyro closed the ventilator again, reducing his speech once again to mumbling. "H'mm ghnna gahh bhhk inshhde."

Instead of following Pyro, Scout sat hunched on the crate, giving at glance to Medic. "Ya two got real close," he commented nonchalantly. If there was one thing Medic liked about Scout, it was that he was not as annoying at the RED one, or so Pyro had told him. Apparently from the stories he'd heard RED Scout was constantly making jokes that sometimes turned in accusations about the team being gay. BLU Scout was a just marginally quieter and a lot more sensible.

"Vell, yes. If ve're going to be stuck vith each ozher for avhile I'd get used to zhem," Medic replied, ruffling his hair with a hand. "Zhey seem alright."

"Yeah I mean, they're okay but ya two got real close real fast."

"And… is zhere a problem vith zhat?"

"Well… no not really. Just an observation, ya know?"

"Admittedly it's a good observation. Herr Pyro is very interesting. All Pyros are very interesting. Anyvay, I think dinner is being prepared so I'm going to go back, ja?"

Scout watched Medic head back to the base first before he followed behind, maintaining a respectable distance from the doctor. Dinner was confirmed as he pulled open the shutter door of the base. It was a minor inconvenience, but it prevented the robots from getting in seeing as how they were apparently not programmed to bend down and lift things that weren't the bomb up. The strong smell of flame-grilled tiger prawns and other fried seafood had Scout darting to his seat at the table.

Engineer had made most of the food, with Pyro doing the flame-grilling of the prawns. The food was divided into equal portions, with the leftovers being free-for-all. They weren't comfortable enough to be eating together as a team of six yet, so once the plates were handed out, the REDs retreated to one side of the room and the BLUs remained at the table. Pyro sat out of view of the BLUs where he could remove his mask and eat in peace.

"Hey, hey doc," Scout whispered, realising that the Pyro would have to remove his mask to eat. "D'ya think I could like, sneak over and see Py maskless?" He asked.

"Uhm, as curious as I am I don't zhink zhat's a good idea," Medic said, in-between mouthfuls of calamari.

"Actually, to hell with ya, I'm doing it anyway. Like, later."

Medic rolled his eyes. There was no stopping Scout once he had his mind set.

—

Makina got up from his fairly uncomfortable position as soon as the mercenaries left their place outside to go back into their base. For as long as the Pyro and Medic had been outside practicing, which could have been almost an hour, he'd been watching them through the scope of his rifle. He'd removed the laser pointer so no one could see him from where he sat, up in a cliff hangover, his metal body obscured by shadows.

He'd taken note of everything. How they moved, how they interacted, and saved it all in a little file for future reference and so he would have something to tell Gray. Having nothing else to watch for, he got up, following the Heavyset escort back to the factory.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I just want to thank all of you for the many follows and favourites and reviews this story has gotten! And to think this has only been up for what, a week and a half? Thank all of you so so so much!**

Having no idea when Gray's bots would be sent to attack meant at least two of the six mercenaries had to be up at any given time to keep an eye out for any sudden attacks. It was a tiring job, especially when the selected mercenaries on duty were up at 3am, sitting outside in full view of the facility, in the freezing cold.

"Thhs shucks," Pyro muttered, the firebug having tucked his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around. A small ball of warm light floated next to him, serving as his source of heat and light. Even the asbestos suit failed to keep him warm.

Medic couldn't really tell what Pyro had said, but from the tone of voice it must have not been something pleasant. He rubbed his eyes with a hand in the darkness of the Mann Co facility, leaning against a crate. He had pulled his coat up to his neck and buttoned it up completely, but like Pyro's asbestos suit, it didn't keep the cold out very well.

Pyro stared at Medic for a moment, noticing the older man shivering a little in the cold. Feeling a little sorry for him, he slowly generated a little floating orb of warmth and sent it over to him. The pale yellow-orange orb floated through the cold air slowly towards Medic, where it finally rested next to him. Medic took a moment to stare at it, then glanced at Pyro.

"Ah, thank you Herr Pyro," Medic said, enjoying the warmth the orb gave off. It was not as much as a fireplace, or a flamethrower, but it was warm and that was all he wanted. The two mercenaries on duty lapsed into silence once more, having nothing to say to each other, until Medic caught a glimpse of a little blue light in the distance. He straightened up, squinting through the darkness.

Pyro noticed the small movement and his head snapped in the same direction, though through the tinted lens of his mask, the light was far too small and dim to see. "Whht?"

Medic watched for a moment more, before he decided to investigate. The light flickered for a moment, disappearing briefly before it reappeared just further from its original place. "Don't sound zhe alarm yet," he said, in case it was not a robot. Pyro nodded and gripped his flare gun tightly, following Medic closely behind.

The little spot of light turned into two, disappearing before the two guards could get close enough. A soft clanking sound floated through the air, but where the supposed robot was going could not be told in the darkness. The lights flicked on again even further.

Pyro took out his flashlight and shone it directly onto the source of the small blue lights, sighing irritably when it was a small Scoutbot, harmless. It sparked and stared at them, holding no weapons. Medic rolled his eyes. "If it's just one, and not even armed at zhat, ve could just kill it ourselves. Maybe it got out its facility," Medic said, approaching with his ubersaw. Cornered, the Scoutbot hardly fought back as Medic stabbed his ubersaw through and snapped the robot's head off.

"Thht was… esshy. Thh esshy," Pyro commented. He was a little suspicious that something else was waiting for them; hardly did just one sad, malfunctioning robot show up. As if he had just jinxed their luck, Medic lurched forward as a small needle appeared seemingly from nowhere jabbed into the base of his neck. Before Pyro had time to respond, a Spybot uncloaked from behind and grabbed him, giving him the same needle filled with drugs. Both of them collapsed onto the floor, their teammates in the base completely unaware, as the Spybot uncloaked a teleporter and dragged them away.

…

Makina lowered his rifle scope, a little disappointed at the easy capture. He hadn't actually thought it would have been so easy, especially done in the dead of night, when the mercenaries would have expected the worse. For a moment he considered telling his escort to head back first and to alert the other mercenaries, but thought better of it and stood up, brushing past the Heavybot to return to the facility. The teleporter used sparked and exploded in the distance, leaving nothing but scrap metal that would lead the remaining mercenaries to find their friends.

Upon reaching back to the facility, Makina quickly weaved through the throng of bots and took the elevator up to Gray's office. Gray was behind his desk, grinning at the screens linked to the security cameras all over the facility. His pale eyes were fixated on one screen on particular, that showed the holding cell where the mercenaries were being kept in. Neither of them were responsive yet, but that was okay.

"I must applaud you on your good job tonight," Gray said, with a malicious grin spread across his face. "I honestly did not expect for it to be this easy."

 _"Neither did I, but you have the mercenaries now."_ Not once had Makina ever called Gray 'Maker'. In front of Gray, he never addressed the old hag. It was a conscious effort that never seemed to be noticed. Behind Gray's back, he called him all sorts of things, most of them relating to being old and dead on the inside.

"Agreed. Anyway, now I'm going to go down and cut off that Pyro's mask, and you're welcome to follow me if you'd like," Gray said, getting up from his seat. Makina let Gray pass before he followed behind, curious to see the Pyro masksless.

By the time they got down to the holding cell Pyro's hat and dragon skull mask had both been removed and left on a table at the corner of the room. All that left was the rubber gas mask that kept anyone from seeing the arsonist's face. Medibot was waiting in a corner for Gray under orders. When Gray entered, he was offered a sharp scalpel.

Gray took a moment to study the Pyro, unresponsive and unaware of what was going on. He from looking at the suited body he wouldn't have been able to tell anything about the man underneath except that he probably really enjoyed setting people ablaze and hearing them scream.

"Let's see who you really are, Mr. Axel," Gray commented, starting to cut away the mask. He made neat, long incisions, enough to loosen it up to pull away, but not enough to damage the mask. He might want a little prize to keep once he was done with the Pyro. His movements seemed to slow as he began to pull away the mask, unsure of what to anticipate.

Makina stared at the now-maskless Pyro. Huh, guess he was no alien. It was a normal man - maybe one who would have been called pretty good looking if Makina were a lady and not a robot. To match his fair skin the Pyro had dark, messy hair that stood in tufts. Satisfied, Gray took a step back to get a good look at him. "Medibot, do a quick physical on him to make sure he didn't react badly to the drug." Gray turned to leave, Makina and Medibot hanging behind.

 _"Truth be told Herr, I expect something else,"_ Medibot commented. He quickly checked pulse, heart rate, breathing for any abnormalities that could have been caused by the drug and retreated when he found the Pyro to be fine. He let Makina stare at the unconscious Pyro while he went to check on the Medic.

Makina nodded along absent-mindedly. _"Yeah, I expected something different too. I hope this makes things a lot easier for us. First chance we get we're out of here."_

 _"You're still going ahead vith zhat plan, huh?"_ Medibot asked. _"I can't stop you Herr, but I can make sure you don't get torn to shreds by zhe other bots out zhere."_

 _"So you're coming?"_ Makina asked. While he did not consider Medibot too close a friend, having a little help in getting out was nice and always appreciated. _"I guess we just wait for them to wake up then,"_ he said, switching subjects. Both mercenaries didn't seem likely to wake up in the next two hours or so, which gave Makina plenty of time to leave and come back later. _"Give me a call when they're starting to wake up."_

Medibot nodded and rolled over to the other side of the holding cell and out through the door, keeping it open for Makina. Once the bots passed through, the door was sealed shut and locked again. They would be monitored through cameras until later.

…

The world was spinning and sliding and everything was shifting and moving. At first there was total silence before any sound came back, which wasn't much really. Pyro found himself unable to move any of his limbs properly say for his head, but being able to do that wasn't much of a help when he was tied to a chair. And pretty tightly, at that.

"What the fu-" He suddenly panicked when he saw his hat and mask on the table at the far end of the room. Frantic, he looked around the room for anything that would give him clues on how he ended up where he was - or where he was in the first place.

The sound of a door opening had Pyro twisting his head around to see, a deep scowl forming when he saw Gray and a few robots enter. Gray stepped in front of him, bending down to get a good look at Pyro's pale face.

"My my, what a handsome charmer you are," Gray commented. Pyro growled in return.

"Fucker," he snarled.

Gray raised and eyebrow and straightened up again. "We're going to have to work on your manners, huh… Mr. Bigarsky?" Pyro's eyes significantly widened when he heard Gray address him by his last name.

"What th- how the _fuck_ do you know me?" Pyro snapped, his fists curling into tight balls. If he had been free, Gray would have been punched so hard his jaw might have snapped and probably the rest of his skull too.

Gray chuckled. "Oh, I've known you for very long. I know you're one of the mercenaries trying to defend Mann Co. from me. I know you're special, just like your little friend there-" He gestured to Medic across the room,

"He's not my friend," Pyro growled under his breath.

"-And I know you're likely not going to enjoy what I'm about to do to you next. I'm very tempted to just go ahead and do it now, but I'd like your friend to see it too. Just so he knows what to expect. So you'll just have to wait a little longer for your surprise, hm?" Gray mocked.

The old leader of robots grinned at Pyro one more time before he turned, leaving the room. Before he stepped out completely, he looked back at the two Heavybots who had followed him in. "Oh, you're both welcome to… have a little fun with our guest," he said with a chuckle, before leaving with a click of the door.

Both Heavybots turned back to Pyro and marched up. He had an idea of what Gray's 'fun' meant, which meant he was in for a bit of a beating.


	5. Chapter 5

When dawn arrived a sleepy Demoman came wandering out of the base, bending down to pull up the shutter gate that separated the mercenaries from the outside. Still wearing the thin red jacket that made an attempt to keep him warm, he rubbed his one eye and yawned, not yet realising that neither of the two mercenaries on guard that night were around.

He walked out into the open, his mind not yet awake, and called out, "Aye lads, ye can go back inside now. I'll take over yer shift now." When no response came, he frowned, looking around. "Lads?"

His question was greeted with nothing but silence and the distant call of birds flying across the pale dawn sky. Neither of the mercenaries were hanging around, waiting for someone to come take their shift. _Maybe they're further down,_ Demoman thought. Unsheathing his Eyelander in case of anything, he held it close and began to make his way down to the shipyard where bots usually streamed in from.

As he walked, he kept a watchful eye out for any sign of the two mercenaries. Every second he didn't see any trace of them got him even more worried, making him speed up his pace and hurry to the shipyard.

The shipyard was as quiet as a ghost town. It seemed… peaceful. Streams of light filtered in from the roof panels on top and came in directly through the large ledge that led to Gray's moveable bot deployment facility, painting the shipyard in a milky dawn light. Nothing seemed out of place.

Demoman wandered around, heading up the ramp to the higher platforms where sometimes Engineer would set up his sentry. He would have gone up the stairs had he not tripped over something hard.

"Bloody hell-!" Demoman hissed, looking back to glare at the offending piece of whatever it was he'd tripped on. One eyebrow raised in curiousity as he stared at the piece of scrap metal. He was no engineer, but nonetheless he bent down to take a better look at it. He picked it up, feeling over the smooth, blue edges of the metal. It wasn't much of a sight to see, but it did lead to more scraps of metal. Not much of the original machine could be told from the scraps lying around, so he started to rearrange them in a way that made sense.

It took a few tries to swap around the bits of broken scrap before it resembled something round and vaguely familiar. He gasped. Before him was the remains of a teleporter.

"Bloody fookin' hell," Demoman hissed, collecting the scrap metal in his arms and making a run back to base. He couldn't quite make the story out entirely, but he had the idea that Pyro and Medic were both gone, and the bots were at fault. _Of course! The bloody bots would pick them off at night. I just hope the lads are alright,_ Demoman though, smacking himself mentally.

Upon reaching back to the base, he flung the shutter open with his foot, having no hands free. He dumped down the metal and yelled for the others to get off their asses and take a look. A tired and irritated Heavy was the first to respond, slowly coming down the stairs with a yawn.

"What does leetle bomb man want?" He demanded, his eyes slowly drifting to the metal. The large Russian fighter suddenly froze, his eyes darkening. "Where is Doktor? And Pyro?"

Engineer was the next to come down, followed by Scout dragging himself and flopping down at the table. "This better be good if ya goons dragged me outta my sleep," Scout snapped irritably, completely ignoring the metal on the table.

The RED Texan stared at the metal scraps, scratching his head. "Uhm… d'ya wanna explain this, Demo?" He asked, even though he somewhat had an idea of what had happened when he realised Medic and Pyro were not around.

"That's th' thing lad, I don't know what happen. All I know is that th' Doc and Pyro are gone and this," He said, gesturing to the metal, "has something ta do with it. I tried ta do a little reassemblin' and it looks like a teleporter."

Engineer frowned, opening his mouth to say something when Scout leapt up. "Whoa whoa, ya mean Doc and Mumbles got captured by bots?" He said, his eyes wide with excitement. "Man, then we gotta go get em! Who knows what that creepy old man is doing with them!"

"Settle down boy," Engineer warned. "We don't really know what happened. Demo, you sure this is what happened? When did it happen?"

Demoman shrugged. "Beats me lad. I just go out ta take over their shift and they ain't there. Must've happened last night while we were all sleeping."

"Guys, what the hell are we waitin' for? We gotta find em!" Scout chimed in again.

"Does Ms Pauling know?" Heavy asked. "We should tell her, or old woman will get angry if we just leave. Backup needed as well."

"Man, ya wanna wait? We can take on the bots!" Scout hissed.

Heavy stared him down. "Nyet. You are scrawny leetle boy and we cannot take on the bots ourselves. We must call for backup."

The team of four stared at each other for a moment, before Engineer took out his radio and began to make contact with Ms Pauling.

…

"What do you mean, 'they got captured'?" Ms Pauling hissed into the radio. She was hurrying over to the RED base in Teufort to find enough mercenaries to send to help. "The Administrator is going to _kill_ you for this. Look, I can't send anyone noticeable or I'm going to get skinned alive. I'll try to do what I can, but I can't promise anything. Just… look, if you can kill Gray Mann while you're there maybe the Administrator will spare you, because one way or another she's going to find out."

"So… ya want us to kill Gray Mann too?" Engineer asked. "All we're looking to do is just, y'know, bust out Doc and Pyro."

"Yes Engineer, that is what I'm saying. If you don't you're probably going to die by the Administrator's hand. It's just advice. Now I need to go, but I'll try to send someone over, okay?" Ms Pauling said, not waiting for a reply before she clicked off the radio and hurried into the RED fort.

Her heels clicked against the wood floor as she walked briskly, making her presence known to the present mercenaries. Sniper glanced up from his newspaper, raising en eyebrow at the sight of the lady in purple.

"Surprise ta see ya here, Ms Paulin'. Ya need somethin'?" The Aussie marksman asked. Ms Pauling usually didn't show up unless she had monthly reports or unless it was an urgent matter. And it was not monthly report time.

"Where's Spy?" Ms Pauling asked. She knew Spy would be the only one who would go and actually be somewhat useful, or even go, for that matter. She looked around for the hooded assassin, but his presence was not in the room. Ms Pauling had gotten very good at telling when Spy was in a room, but cloaked, just through gut feeling, but he wasn't around.

"Th' bloody bloke went ta go brood in his smokin' room," Sniper answered, flipping up his newspaper again. Ms Pauling briefly thanked him and hurried away, ignoring any of the other REDs who made comment about her sudden presence. She stopped before the heavy cedar wood door that kept other mercenaries out from Spy's personal smoking room, flinging the door open without knocking.

Instinctively Spy stood up and pointed his silver engraved revolver at the intruder, a scowl formed on his masked face. His hood was down on his shoulders, so his eyes weren't shrouded by darkness. He relaxed when he saw Ms Pauling walking up to him, and kept his revolver away.

"My apologies, Ms Pauling. I did not expect you," Spy said, turning towards her. He was significantly taller and had to look down at the short lady when he spoke. Ms Pauling grabbed his wrist and began to drag him towards the door without a word. Irritated by the action, he dug his heels into the floor, preventing her from pulling him any further. He pulled his wrist from her grip.

"Maybe you'd like to explain yourself, before you start dragging me places? You seem flustered," Spy commented.

Ms Pauling spun around to look at him. "The mercenaries fighting off Gray have gotten themselves into a little bit of trouble and they're requesting backup," she said, not wanting to go through the lengthy explanation.

Spy thoughtfully put a cigarette to his lips, taking a brief moment out of their conversation to light it. "And you need me because…?"

"Because you're the only one who will actually go…"

"Not true. You can ask Soldier. That madman will gladly go."

"…without fucking things up."

Spy paused. "Fair point. Although I fid it a bit ridiculous that you'd be asking me to go. If they've requested backup to fight robots, then I don't think it'd be fair for me to say I'm the most… useful against robots." It was a little hurtful for him to say that, but he was honest.

"The thing is Spy, the Administrator doesn't know yet. She's going to find out soon but where possible she doesn't need to know. Anyone else's disappearance from battle will be too obvious. You're the only one who can leave and no one will know, at least not for now," Ms Pauling said.

Spy considered it for a moment. "Raise my pay and I'll do it." Irritated, Ms Pauling took out her wallet and handed him an extra hundred dollars to show she was serious.

"You'll get the rest later," she said, hurrying off again. Spy smiled, tucking the money into his jacket, and followed her without complaint. He flipped up his hood again, refusing to answer any questions from anyone who asked.

…

The band of robot-fighting mercenaries weren't particularly glad when their only backup was a Spy. "He'll have to do," Ms Pauling said curtly. "Now I have to hurry back or the Administrator is going to find out." Before any of the mercenaries could ask questions, she turned and walked away, leaving them to help themselves.

The team of five looked at each other. "So what's the plan?" Scout asked. He didn't notice Spy giving him a certain, unreadable look, but the Spy was starting to regret his decision. _Not you again._

"The plan?" Engineer asked. "We storm in, get them, and get the hell out."

In theory it was a decent plan. Storm in with the biggest guns possible, shoot everything that moved, and go get the mercenaries. Put into practice, however… it was by far the stupidest idea ever thought of.

But stupid plans sometimes worked out.

Sometimes.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N. Sorry for not updating as quickly as you would like, but my birthday got in the way of me writing at all. That aside, it's July and Camp NaNoWriMo has begun, which means you can expect me to be writing a lot more! I'm hoping to push out at least 20,000 words by the end of this month, which doesn't mean much, but going at about 1.7K words per chapter on average (I guessed that), you'll have nearly 10 chapters more! I can maths!**

"If you imbeciles think that plan is going to work, then I am calling Ms Pauling and telling her to take me back to Teufort," Spy huffed, smoking away a cigarette while his steely gaze switched between each mercenary.

Engineer frowned at his teammate. "Well we didn't say it would work, but it's not like we got a lot of time for planning and all that. We don't know what Gray could be doing to them this very moment, or if they're even alive at all."

"At the very least," Spy sighed, pulling the cigarette from his mouth for a moment to blow smoke from his mouth, "have somewhat of a plan. Think it over, find your entrances and exits. Remember, we're in his territory now. He knows the place much better than we do, and you have to be the biggest idiots alive if you really think you're going to run in there and get them and run back out with all your limbs. If anything, you'll probably die the moment you step in there."

Heavy nodded along, although he only caught the gist of what Spy was saying. "Leetle man has good point. You are all stoopid."

Scout scowled from where he sat. "Oh yeah fatty? And ya got a better plan?" He stood up, swinging his steel bat over his shoulder. "I don't know about you guys but I'm gonna go save their asses. Y'all can come as backup."

Demoman had to grab the Scout by the back of his collar and pull him back before he could actually leave. "Spy's right. Ye are th' biggest bloody idiot around here."

With an exasperated sigh, Spy put his head in his hand. "If you idiots are done, you can finally get to work and _think of a plan._ "

…

Every minute seemed like an hour. An hour of staring at nothing but the walls of the holding cell and his hat and mask on the table out of reach. Part of Pyro hoped the Medic across him in the next cell wouldn't wake up and look at him, but he knew he wasn't getting out on his own.

He had made attempts to burn his way out, but whatever restraints and chair this was, it was fireproof. Smart.

Movement across the room had Pyro's head snapping up, watching in anticipation as Medic started to stir, effects of the drug finally beginning to wear off. He tried to hide his face with something, anything at all, but there was nothing to hide behind and all he could do was steel himself as Medic raised his head, blinking slowly as he attempted to clear his eyesight.

"Fucking hell," Pyro muttered under his breath, refusing to look at Medic. It wasn't that he didn't trust the man - well, part of him didn't, since they were originally from opposite teams - but he was not comfortable with showing his face to a BLU.

Pyro bit his lip in discomfort as Medic's eyesight finally cleared, the man taking a moment to look Pyro up and down before realising who he was, from the asbestos suit. He raised an eyebrow, but didn't make any other gesture to show his surprise.

"Herr Pyro?" The doctor asked, just to be sure.

"Surprise, surprise," Pyro scowled. "I'll have to congratulate you on being the first BLU to see me this… exposed."

Medic looked around, trying to find something to say in return to the maskless Pyro. He had clear, distinct features. A prominent nose, deep-set crystal blue eyes that said American genes, a slightly square jaw. At a glance Medic would have thought him purely American, but something about his voice hinted at a slightly British upbringing. Mixed parentage, perhaps.

"I haff to congratulate myself for finally seeing a Pyro maskless. I don't zhink you did zhat yourself, did you?" Medic asked.

"No," Pyro snorted. "If I was okay with this I would have taken it off a long time ago." His attention was averted to the door in Medic's cell opening, and Gray coming in with a Sniperbot. Neither of them held weapons, which was a good sign, supposedly.

Medic watched the two of them with a hard, cold stare, something he'd picked up from his officers back in the cold of Germany. He would have scowled or said something, but having no idea what the old man before him would do made him keep an expressionless face, say for the slight frown.

"Good to see you are awake, Mr. Ahlbach. How are you feeling?" Gray asked casually as if they were nothing more but friends.

Friends did not tie each other to chairs. "I'd definitely be better if I vas not ah, tied to a chair. Do I not get the courtesy of a name as vell?"

Gray smiled. "Oh yes, where are my manners?" He nodded to the Sniperbot, who pressed a button on a panel at the side of the room that lowered the plexiglass wall that segregated both cells, merging them into one. Pyro could now hear the conversation going on. "Gentlemen, I am Gray Mann. I suppose you would know me as the man attacking your precious company with robots." He said it with such ease, as if there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. To him, there probably wasn't.

"I'm fairly certain you would like the attacks to stop. Now, I'm a persuasive man, or so I'd like to think, so I have a very simple deal. In exchange for me stopping attacks on your precious little Mann Co., I'd like for both of you to just work with me for a little bit, help me get what I want, and you can go."

Pyro narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "And what exactly is it that you want?" He asked. If it was just money he could easily just fork over the cash, but if it was money Gray wanted, he wouldn't make his robots run on it.

"I want to harness the abilities the both of you have. I understand that you're probably thinking that you were born with it and therefore it cannot be transferred from one person to another. I agree, it's not that simple. But being a maker of machines, I have designed a device that will assist the process. Problem is, I've never actually tried it with someone who holds true power. So the both of you will have to stick around for a bit, let me work out the kinks of the machine, and once it's done, you can both go, and I will stop attack Mann Co."

"Und if ve say no?" Medic piped up, raising an eyebrow. He was getting tired of all of this old man's ramblings. He was fairly convinced he could easily walk out if the second he was released, and he was sure the Pyro would snap this man's neck as well.

Gray smiled, his grin evil like a cheshire cat. "I was hoping you wouldn't have to ask, but if you say no, then I will very well have to use force. Either way, Mr. Ahlbach, I _will_ get what I want." He headed for the door. "I'll give you all a little time to think it over. I don't want to use force if I don't have to, so let's just cooperate, hm? Makina, stay here and try to… convince them. However you'd like to go about that."

The machinery genius left the room, leaving the Sniperbot behind to watch them. The robot stayed silent for several minutes, waiting until he was certain Gray would be going elsewhere to do other things, before he spoke up.

 _"You're not going to actually do it."_

"Is that a statement or a question?" Pyro asked, wriggling a little against his restraints. Had he not had his gloves on, the skin around his wrist would have been chafed raw.

 _"It's a statement. Listen, Gray's not making a deal he would actually follow."_

"As if ve don't already know zhat," Medic muttered darkly from his end of the room.

 _"So I have a less risky deal to offer."_

Pyro raised an eyebrow. "And… we would trust you because…?"

 _"Because I'm not like the rest. If I was, I wouldn't be standing here or speaking to you. I'd only know how to recite the responses programmed into me. I wouldn't know the both of you by name. Axel Bigarsky and Horst-Dieter Ahlbach."_

By that point both mercenaries were stunned by how much this robot knew. They stared at him, unblinking, wondering how much more this metal Sniper knew.

 _"The deal is simple. We help each other get out of here. That's all I'm asking for. I can release you two, and you two can help me and a friend get out of here,"_ Makina said.

Axel narrowed his eyes in uncertainty, but leaned to the side to take a look at Horst. So that was his name. For a moment they locked gazes, discussing silently if they should take up the offer. How well could a robot, no less Gray's robot, be trusted? They came to a general consensus to keep the offer on hold and talk about it properly later.

"Ve… ve'll talk about it," Horst said, refusing to look at the robot. Something about him unnerved the doctor. Maybe it was the lifeless LED eyes that just glowed. It was… creepy. Creepy like the time Soldier came into his study naked and covered in honey, complaining about bear bites. Correction, that was downright terrifying.

Makina nodded slowly. _"Okay. I'll come back later."_

He left the two mercenaries, two Soldierbots coming to take his place. Once he was out of the cell, he felt a surge of excitement - or electricity - through his body. He and Medibot had a lot to talk about.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N. Now that I am officially done with my make-or-break presentation, hopefully things will pick up from here. By things I mean posting chapters. Hopefully.**

Some battering and bruising later Axel and Horst were finally left alone with the Sniperbot once again. Gray had not come back to ask them about their choice yet, which gave them time to think about everything.

 _"Well?"_ Makina asked, keeping a respectable distance from either mercenary still. This time, he was not alone. He had made Medibot come with him to listen to what the mercenaries had to say. The shyer bot remained behind him, not saying anything and just listening.

"Well I don't suppose ve haff much of a choice, Herr. Ve're not entirely convinced, but it'll haff to do," Horst sighed. If Makina was physically capable of grinning, he would have. Neither mercenary seemed too happy with having to trust a bunch of robots who had no proof they were really going to keep to their word, but if they really followed through, then getting out was so much easier.

Makina nodded. _"Good. Now the plan is, well- I don't actually have a plan. But what I do know is that your other friends are looking for you and they're planning to storm the place. If you can contact them, because they will kill me if I try, then you can tell them to just make a distraction while we get out."_

"Wait. You're telling us you don't have a plan to get us out?" Axel hissed.

 _"I kinda do, but let's face it. This room is covered in security cameras. I can go disable them tonight and- wait. Wait this building has a security protocol that all locks are released upon activation of the fire alarm. No idea why that's installed but it'll work. If I can set off the fire alarm you two can just leave."_

"…Zhat's actually a really stupid protocol but if it vorks it vorks," Horst muttered.

 _"I'll actually need to set a real fire so it'll be a good distraction so…"_

"Just take a lighter and a can of hairspray. DIY flamethrower," Axel said simply.

Makina gave him a look. _"We're robots. Why would we own hairspray?"_

"I'm just giving ideas here."

 _"I'll think of something. As soon as the doors pop open tonight, Doc here will be around to cut off the ropes. Then get out. Anyhow."_

…

"I still think you're all idiots waiting to die."

"Shut up Spy."

"Just speaking out loud." Spy puffed on a cigarette casually as the rest of the team geared up, preparing to storm the robot factory. They would have to pass the robot deployment ship first before actually getting to the factory, so they were ensuring they had enough firepower.

"Why da hell did they send a Spy anyway? What, ya gonna sap them and stab 'em all in the back?" Scout mocked, rebinding the bandages around his wrist. He made sure they were wrapped tight around the knuckles in case he had to punch anyone.

Spy smirked. "You're not as stupid as you seem. It actually is a tactic that works."

Scout rolled his eyes and ignored Spy. The man seemed to have everything already. Everything seemed to fit perfectly into his suit. Extra cartridges for his revolver, knife, extra knife, sapper, disguise kit. Everything was all there in that sleek red suit.

Scout chucked his extra magazines into the backpack he always had slung around his back, stuffing several cans of Bonk! into the bag as well. Spy watched with a scorn, as Scout dumped can after can into the slowly-filling bag. "Do you even need that much?"

The last can in his hand hissed as he popped it open, lifting it to his lips with a defiant glare at Spy. "Uh like, yeah? How da hell ya expect me to run through all those frickin' stupid bots without it?" He took a long gulp of the sugary drink that made Spy cringe internally. If he could, he would have smacked it out of the boy's hand.

The hooded assassin watch with disgust as Scout downed the rest of the can, crumpling it within his hand and throwing it away. It fell onto the floor with a clank, where it was to be left until Mann Co cleaners came in to sweep up. The thing about being a mercenary was that you didn't exactly have to care about cleanliness.

Typically at the end of every battle back in Teufort, when it was RED versus BLU and not RED and BLU against robots, the battlefield would be littered with Bonk! cans, bullet shells, empty magazines, broken glass jars, shreds of clothing, and of course, lots of blood and human parts. No one ever saw the cleaners, but the very next day the battlefield was almost as good as new, with only several faint bloodstains remaining behind.

Spy decided to leave the Scout to fidget as he waited impatiently for the rest of the team to get ready, with all that sugar running in his blood. Had it not been for respawn, and perhaps his Medic, the Scout would probably have died to heart disease, blood sugar levels, and a multitude of other problems related to too much sugar in his blood.

The Frenchman disappeared to go outside and have a smoke, ignoring the rest of the mercenaries inside the base. He did not enjoy speaking to others if he didn't have to, and he sure as hell did not have to speak to any of the mercenaries in the room.

In the cool, damp air of the outside Spy could let his hood rest on his shoulders. He lit a cigarette in silence, taking a long drag of it before taking the burning cigarette between his fingers and exhaling the smoke into the air. His mind flickered first to Pyro. Yes, he had seen his without his mask. Everyone on RED had. If anything, he was a handsome and charming man who could have easily managed to get a decent job anywhere else. But of all things he had become a mercenary. A curious decision, but one the Pyro refused to elaborate on. He spoke of many things and told many good stories. He had an attitude that seemed to attract people. Including Spy himself.

As a part of his job Spy always wanted to know things. He was naturally curious and liked to know everything he could know, even if he didn't have to. So it was with no doubt he had wanted to know the Pyro. Not in a friendly way, but it was good to know the men he was working with. Much to his surprise he had found the Pyro to be some good company, but only without his mask on. With the rubber mask on he was different. Not too different, but he acted a little differently.

Then his mind drifted to Scout. He knew everything and anything about the boy. He knew all his field tactics, how he would always take the route that was most inconvenient for any RED to chase. He was far more lithe and acrobatic than the RED Scout and could easily hide in small places or swing himself up onto rafters that wouldn't take as much weight. He knew how Scout typically remembered to watch his back but on occasion would forget to check and give Spy the chance to swoop in for a kill, after which he would come out of Respawn swearing at the top of his lungs. He knew the boy had grown up with a widowed mother who loved him more than anything else in the world and he knew Scout always sent home a letter and a portion of his pay every month, preferably on a Friday so that the letter would reach home by Saturday, or Sunday at latest, when his mother was sure to be at home. He knew that on his birthday, which happened to always fall on a weekend or a ceasefire day, he would let himself take the day off to call his mother, his brothers, his sister.

Coming from a RED, that was a scary amount of knowledge he held. But he was a Spy, and that was what Spies did. They knew things. They knew things they didn't need to know. With a deep sigh, he put the cigarette between his lips again and took a small pull, letting the smoke warm him from the insides.

The shutter gate rattled as a gloved hand poked out underneath it and pulled it up. Spy gave Engineer a side glance as the short Texan stepped out, readjusting his goggles so that they sat comfortably over his head. "Ain't ya cold?" The shorter, bald mercenary asked, coming to rest next to the Frenchman.

"I've gotten used to it. I've been to far colder countries," Spy replied simply. He reached into his jacket pocket and produced the box of cigarettes, offering one to Engineer in silence.

Normally Engineer did not smoke, but on occasion he allowed himself one, usually after a real hard day of working when he wanted to unwind, or when it was really cold. He muttered a thanks and took one, allowing Spy to light it for him before he clipped it between his lips, letting the smoke warm him up from the inside.

"Are the others done? They're taking an awful long time to prepare," Spy commented, keeping the box of cigarettes back into his suit jacket.

Engineer sighed. "Almost done. They're just checking to make sure no one's missed nothing. Wouldn't wanna, y'know, reach there and realise someone didn't bring extra mags."

Spy nodded. "Fair point. Any particular strategy? Or are we still going to just barge in and get killed? You must remember we will be far out of respawn range."

Engineer paused for a moment to remove the cigarette from his lips and tap away the ashes that clung to the end of the cigarette. The remaining embers continued to glow, a little brighter now that the ashes were gone. "I've wired up some radios so we can keep in touch. You don't need one, since I uplinked it with the mic you got in your watch. Plan is Heavy, Demo and I are gonna make a distraction, you and Scout explore the place, try to find out where Pyro and Medic are. If any of us get captured, the rest of us just keep moving. I think we're all smart enough to find our own way out. I asked Heavy to see if there was a map of the building somewhere around. Kinda remember Pauling mentioning it at some point."

Deciding the outside was too cold to stay in, Spy finished the last of his cigarette and tapped away the ashes, before dropping the butt to the floor and stamping it out. Engineer did the same, and they reentered the warmer base where Heavy was rolling out several sheets of paper he'd found.

"I don't know what map looks like. But I found several," the Russian stated, rolling out the three maps he had found lying in a dusty crate at the back of the store. Engineer's eyes lit up, approaching the table. He took a quick scan through the maps, before brushing away the two other pieces and spreading out the third properly.

"This is it. It ain't a very good map and all but it does show have an idea of where the vents are. If that's the case Scout can crawl through the vents, see where it leads. This map only shows the factory floor itself and not anything above or below it, but it'll do," Engineer said, more to himself than to any of the other mercenaries standing around.

"Ye know lads, Pyro and Doc ain't gonna be on th' factory floor, unless Gray's a total bloody idiot. I like ta think he is one, but he ain't that big of an idiot," Demo chimed in. It was true. Gray had not just blindly attacked Mann Co in obvious places. He had strategy and tactic, and it was becoming clear to the mercenaries.

"'S true. But we don't have much to work with, so let's just get there and… see what happens."

…

When Makina had sad 'tonight', he hadn't actually meant it. It was stupid, to try pop them out as soon as they got there. Gray would be onto them in an instant, like a leopard waiting for its prey to walk under the tree it sat on. He needed the mercenaries to seem like they were complying with Gray, even though it was pretty obvious that they weren't going to.

As soon as he and Medibot reached back into the small closet-office, Makina shut the door and locked it.

 _"Tonight?"_ Medibot asked, not having understood the plan in it's entirety.

 _"Not tonight. Gray will find out. If anything I think he has some recording application installed in me so anything I say is sent to him,"_ Makina said. It was just a thought that had suddenly popped into him.

Medibot shook his head. _"Nein. I checked last night vhile you were shut down. I'm not zhat stupid Herr Makina."_

Makina paused for a moment before stiffly nodding. He had underestimated the Medibot. For now there was nothing much they could do but wait until Gray decided to start attempting to use the mercenaries. He had forgotten to tell the mercenaries to just go with it. They would have to sit through some of the more… experimental tests, but in due time they were going to get out.

…

Axel stared at Horst and Horst stared back. Deep within them there was still a very slight twinge of hatred at each other for having been from opposing teams, but the friendship - if you could call it that - that had been forged over the course of fighting robots and practicing abilities was a little more prominent now.

"So… you actually trust that bot?" Axel asked from his end of the room. His gaze occasionally flicked to his hat and mask lying on the table, occasionally making him feel a little nervous and twitchy and exposed.

"Not really… but vhat choice do ve haff? Zhe ozher mercenaries are probably already on zheir vay here but still, any help at zhis point is appreciated," Horst replied simply.

Aside from that, no words were spoken between them. Gray had not returned yet since his long speech about his plans. At some point they must have drifted off to sleep, because both of them were jolted awake when the door to the cell popped open and Medibot rushed in, sawing away at their restraints as fire alarms outside rang loudly all over the building.

Neither of them were ready and frankly speaking, Makina and Medibot hadn't been either. They had not planned for it to happen so soon, but if the opportunity had come, they were going to use it.

 _"I swear zhis vas not planned,"_ Medibot said as he cut through the ropes binding Horst to the chair. Axel had already gotten out and was slipping on his mask and hat. The rubber gas mask was cut up too much to be able to wear it, so he just put on the steaming dragon skull mask and the red hat over it.

"Less talk, more running," Axel said, bolting out of the room, with Horst and Medibot following behind closely. Makina met them in the hallway, which was empty as all the robots had gone to find the cause of the fire alarm.

 _"Some Pyrobot's flamethrower backed up and exploded and the lobby is on fire. It's not that serious and it might prevent you from leaving the easy way, but if you're fast you could make it,"_ Makina explained. He turned and led the mercenaries to the next best exit, which was a lift on the far wing.

Having no idea of what the layout of the facility was, Axel and Horst kept quiet and let the robot lead them, hopefully not into a trap. Makina seemed anxious enough to leave that they didn't question for now. They piled into the lift, Makina hitting the button for the third floor. They remained in awkward silence as the lift rode down.

Somewhere past the fifth floor the lift stopped, the lights going off. "Well shit," Axel hissed. A voice came over the intercom, and it did not sound happy.

"I'm really sad, Makina. You thought I didn't know what you were doing. And I put so much trust and faith into you," the voice said. Makina stared at the intercom. "But I have to say, I'm really amazed at how you managed to get the mercenaries on your side. And you even dragged you Medibot friend with you."

Gray watched them through one of the security cameras in the lift. "I'm afraid I'll have to do what I do to all malfunctioning robots then. It'll be too much of a hassle to drag you to the incinerator from where you are so…"

A gunshot sounded from upstairs, and the lift jerked downwards. Then something snapped, and the lift was falling down.

"I'll have to terminate all of you."

 _Crash._


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N. Just want to thank all of you once again for favouriting, following, and reviewing! I can't believe how much attention this story has gotten since I published it just under a month ago.**

 _Reboot sequence activated. Your system shut down because of a problem. Would you like to restart previously running processes?_

Yes yes yes.

Medibot lay on the ground and let all his system process start up once again before he let himself push away the cracked and dented wall of the lift and get onto his wheel again. Not having legs meant getting back up was a lot more difficult. He had to grab onto something to pull himself up.

Brushing off his coattails - which were torn and very dirty now - he stared at the mess of debris before him. His first instinct was to find Makina and start him up again, but knowing that robots couldn't exactly die and could always be fixed back, he made finding the human mercenaries a priority.

In the silence of the basement lift shaft, with faint atmospheric noise echoing above, Medibot got to work, moving away debris as best as he could. He picked up dented shard and moved them aside, ignoring the thin scratches it left on the metal of his hands.

The entire roof of the lift shaft had caved in. With a few good kicks it could probably break open. It was as if someone had taken the lift and smashed it like a can. There was barely any room to stand. The lift door would have broken open had it not been for the life shaft wall. The only way out was up.

Medibot found both the mercenaries on the floor, blood leaking from several small gashes, but nothing looked too serious. He bent over, unable to squat, and shook them gently. _"Herr Pyro? Herr Doktor?"_

Near his wheel Makina started up again, his eyes lighting up once again. With a metallic groan, he pushed himself up, shaking off little glittering bits of glass. _"Bloody hell. You okay Doc?"_ Makina asked, feeling one shoulder droop a little. Probably a loose screw.

 _"I'm fine Herr, but I'm not so sure about these two,"_ Medibot replied, looking down at the two mercenaries. It was fairly impossible to check them properly in this little space and with the only light source being their eyes. _"Maybe you can climb up, try to find a way out."_

Makina looked up and nodded, gingerly picking his way past the unconscious mercenaries and reaching up for something to grab on. Once he had a good grip, he hauled himself up, pushing away the 'emergency exit door' of the lift. He climbed out and stood on the top of the lift cabin, looking up for an exit. There was the basement level door, which was a short climb away.

 _"There's an exit. Small climb though, and unless you can wake them up then we have to… carry them."_ He clearly wasn't very excited about the idea of having to carry the two mercenaries and he had no clue what was in the basement, but he bet Gray thought they were dead and they could work on their own time.

He swung himself up and while clinging to the edge of the lift shaft, used his one free hand to pry open the basement door. He hauled himself out and took a look around the dark, dust-filled basement. It didn't seem like anyone had been down there in ages. Deciding it was safe, he stuck his head back into the lift shaft.

 _"No one's here. If can drag Pyro and Medic out and I'll pull them up,"_ he called down. Medibot answered with a yes, and some shifting could be heard from inside the crushed lift as medibot struggled to carry the mercenaries.

 _"A-actually, could ve ah, swap places? I can't exactly… climb, vithout legs,"_ Medibot pointed out. Makina paused. Oh right.

 _"Okay. I'll come down and pull you up here first."_

Makina climbed back down into the lift shaft and grabbed his friend by the hand, lifting him up onto the top of the lift cabin. From there Makina climbed back up onto the basement floor and pulled Medibot up, before he dropped back down into the lift shaft again.

Picking his way carefully through the debris, Makina headed back down into the lift and hefted the BLU up first, simply because he was closer. He grunted with the effort, but managed to haul the doctor up to where Medibot could grab him, before Makina went back for Axel.

After both mercenaries were up on the ledge safely Makina got himself back up out of the lift shaft, sitting down next to the two mercenaries. _"They okay Doc? I mean, we've got a little more time on our hands now but we can't stay here for long."_

Medibot sighed, the robotic noise escaping him as realistically as it could get. He gently shook the both of them, barely getting a response. _"Vell zhey're not robots like us Herr Makina. After impact like zhat it's not as easy to get back on zheir feet."_

Axel rolled onto his side, quietly swearing as he propped himself up, aware of the aching that was slowly seeping into his muscles. He blinked wearily, his vision still blurry and his face still a bit sticky with blood. He wiped at it with a hand. "The hell happened…?"

 _"Gray got someone to cut the lift cables,"_ Makina explained briefly as Medibot helped Horst to sit up. _"At least now, if my assumption is correct, he thinks we're dead. Which gives us a lot more time to work with. I'm not saying it's reason to not get out of here as soon as possible but at least we have a little more time to think. You two okay?"_

"I'm… fine…" Horst muttered, rubbing his head and effectively messing up his hair in the process. Makina offered a hand to Axel, who accepted it wordlessly and let the robot pull him up. For a moment the four of them stood around in silence, getting acquainted with their surroundings. With barely any light there wasn't much to see, so Axel sparked a small floating orb that would follow them around, serving as their light source.

There was a faint dripping sound ahead, but there was no oil smell nor any chemical smell. Water, presumably. Having cleared his head, Horst gave the place a quick sweep of a gaze. "Uhm… I don't suppose eizher of you know about zhis place?" It didn't seem like it, the way the two robots also stared blankly.

 _"Truth be told we don't. So I guess we just walk,"_ Makina said, starting off towards the sound of dripping water, with only the light from his eyes and the little floating orb to guide him. Makina's solid metal legs made clinking noises as each step came into contact with the ground. Medibot's wheel made a very faint whirr, and the mercenaries tried to trod as carefully as possible.

There was nothing of interest in the basement. It seemed like a big maze of walls and turns, the only doors leading to empty rooms with suspicious stains that could have been blood. Chucked into corners were barrels of oil and dusty crates filled with nothing, and life was completely void in the basement say for the occasional beetle or two.

 _"We're getting nowhere like this. We should split up, try cover more ground. Who knows how far this places goes?"_ Makina suggested. The group looked at each other for a moment, silently deciding who should go with who.

"I'll go vith you. Herr Pyro can go vith zhe Medibot," Horst said. it was a sensible decision. Leaving the two bots on their own was slightly risky on their part, seeing as how neither of them were exactly fit for combat. Makina gave Medibot and Axel a brief nod, before he turned and headed left with the doctor.

Having nothing to say to the robot, Axel remained silent as he walked in the opposite direction, the floating orb following him closely. All around them the air was dense and thick, and a certain vibe of creepiness hung around like lingering cigarette smoke.

A beetle scurried across, but aside from there, there was no signs of life at all in the basement.

…

Makina and Horst walked along in silence, checking every room for anything of interest. The only things that had turned up from their search was dust and insects, and at some point a large spider which Makina killed in an instant. He did not like spiders, Horst did not like spiders. Win-win for all, except the spider.

As they took a turn, they noticed something odd. The place had gotten… neater. Crates were stacked nicely, barrels of oil put together in a corner with a small broken radio, a small pile of magazines and some tools sitting atop them, and among the dust on the floor, there were new shifts. Someone had been there, and not very much longer ago.

Both of them noticed it, but none of them said it, for fear that whoever was near would hear them. Makina unsheathed his kukri, while Horst - essentially weaponless - readied his fists for any attacks. The place turned eerily silent for a moment, before something grabbed Makina by the leg and dragged him to the floor.

 _"WHAT-"_ Metal clashed against the floor and Makina thrashed around like a fish out of water, trying to free himself as his attacker pounced on him, yelling about getting off his territory. Horst stepped forward and grabbed the Soldierbot, pulling him away from Makina so he could scramble to his feet.

 _"You?!"_ Makina snarled, glaring at the Soldierbot, who oddly did not struggle from Horst's grasp. He just parted his metal jaw in surprise.

 _"Didn't think I'd see you again Mac!"_ He grinned. Clearly they knew each other, but Horst hadn't been given the go to release the bot yet.

Makina looked away. _"I wish I didn't see you again,"_ he muttered to himself. _"Medic, let him go. He's… harmless. Unfortunately."_

Horst complied and let the Soldierbot out of his grip. _"So Freedom. Want to explain what you're doing down here?"_ Makina asked.

Freedom rubbed his hand along the crate that had the radio and tools. _"You know Mac, after that failed escape attempt some time ago when you were brought back to Gray, he was going to incinerate me, so I just camped out here. Been doing so ever since. I don't have much place to go but- wait, are you escaping again?"_

 _"Yes. And this time I have a little more help."_

Freedom eyed Horst up and down. _"It's a Medic. And not even a robot at that. It bleeds. Get rid of it is what I say."_ Horst took a little offence at that, but decided not to say anything.

"Look Herr Makina, if zhis 'Freedom' is vasting our time zhen ve should go. Who knows how long it'll take for us to get out of here?" Horst asked, irritation dripping from his words. He was tired, he missed Helga, he missed Schnaps, he missed his comfy bed. And he would never admit it but he missed just sitting down and doing paperwork, but only a little.

Makina nodded and they brushed past Freedom, who took a little time to register what they said. _"Wait! Are you two trying to get out of the basement?"_ He called after them. When no reply came from the two walking away, he sighed. _"Because I know a way out!"_

At that the two of them stopped. They looked behind, considering the offer from Freedom. Then they nodded.

 _"Okay Freedom, but I'm really trusting you this time…"_ Makina drawled out, hoping Freedom really knew what he was doing this time as the Soldierbot excitedly grabbed his radio and lead them the other way.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N. I'm sorry this chapter is the worst. :(**

"We got to take this slow. Remember we have to pass the bot deployment carrier before we actually make it to the factory. If possible we don't alert the ones at the deployment carrier because they're all ready to go at a moment's notice and we ain't looking for trouble with them. That means no stupid antics. We sneak past, don't try to kill no one there, and git goin'. Got me?" Engineer's gaze swept around at the group outside the base. The orders were mostly directed at Scout, who had an eagerness to… cause trouble.

"If we have to fight then we have to, but where we can we try to avoid it. We don't need to be wastin' our supplies early on." The team nodded and murmurs of agreement rippled throughout. Engineer nodded, satisfied with the response. "Then let's move out."

They turned from the base, not giving it a last glance. As mercenaries they were all aware they may not make it back from the fight, but they had a burning hope and determination within each of them. They would be out of respawn's range. Far out. So they had to play smart and tactful.

Back in Teufort the charge-in method was viable, since if anything happened they would respawn, but out here that was not an option. Death was death here. With their weapons at ready, they began to head down towards the dock, where they would leave Mannhattan behind.

Every step made the group a little more tense and a little more determined to get their teammates back. They headed down to the dock, looking up at the loading bay. Since they were not supposed to leave the dock, there was no proper way to get out. No ladder or whatever. Even if they took the stairs up it was a far drop onto the higher ground where the deployment carrier was.

Demoman took a long look at the tall ledge, then looked down to his stickybomb launcher, then to his teammates. He had a knowing grin spreading on his face, one that made Scout scowl. "Hell no Cyclops. I ain't jumping on ya bombs."

"Ye got a better idea lad?" Demoman retorted, starting to place stickybombs onto the ground. "If ye want I can hold ya and jump."

Scout's eyes widened at the embarrassing thought. "What? Hell no!"

The Scotsman snorted. "Fine. Then lemme show ya how it's done." He stepped right in front of the bombs, bent his knees a bit, made sure he was steady, and the second he jumped, he detonated the bombs behind him and went soaring through the air. He landed on the ledge above neatly. No flailing, no screaming. A perfect jump. From there he fired down bombs onto the same position. He was not very concerned about ammunition, as the stickybombs he was using were made for jumping, and not for combat. The usual ones would kill them first.

"Come on lads! We ain't got all day," he called down. Scout look at them nervously, unwilling to be the first one on them.

"I didn't catch what he did," He said hurriedly. "I gotta see someone else do it first."

Heavy snorted, stepping up to the bombs. "I will go." He stood in front of the bombs, making sure to place his feet exactly where Demoman had. From the ledge the bomb expert guided him.

"Spread yer feet a lil' wider, bend them a bit more!" Heavy readjusted himself according to Demoman's instructions, looking up. "Okay when I count ta three, ya jump. On three! And keep yer legs tucked in as ye fly and only extend them once ye about ta land or ye gonna break yer legs. One… two… three!" Heavy jumped, Demoman detonated the stickybombs, and the large Russian man went flying through the air. He didn't land as neatly and stumbled a little upon landing, but he had cleared the ledge. The big man ignored the rest of the mercenaries below and stared out into the distance at the bot deployment carrier. Now that he was up here it seemed so much closer, but not very much smaller.

When Scout hesitated Spy brushed past, letting Demoman place his stickybombs again before positioning himself. He waited patiently for Demoman to make sure he was positioned correctly. Demoman gave him the go to jump and Scout couldn't help but stare as the Spy landed gracefully on the upper ledge, almost as perfectly as Demoman had.

Engineer and Scout shared a look. "Ya wanna go first boy?" Engineer asked. Scout shook his head.

"Just gotta… watch one more time."

Engineer shrugged. "Okay then." He waited for Demoman to place the bombs before he stood in front of them, facing the ledge. Though he would never admit it, he was nervous. But he would not show it, not to the Scout - a BLU, at that.

Demoman guided the Engineer to position himself properly, though he dd not promise a safe landing. It was all about how the person jumped. If they jumped straight up, they'd fly straight up. In order to fly forward, they had to jump forward. The bombs simply acted as a push to propel and boost forward the jumper.

"Ye'll be fine lad," Demoman called down, noticing the Engineer's slightly uncomfortable face. Engineer gave him a stiff nod, waiting for the count. His jump was faltered slightly, making him trip and nearly fall off the ledge. Heavy grabbed his hand before he could fall backwards off the ledge, pulling him back to safety.

Engineer offered him a nod. "Thanks partner," he mumbled, readjusting his helmet. Scout was the last one to go, nervously staring at the bombs being placed on the blackened ground. All he had to do was jump. He was good at jumping right? Right.

He hesitated in positioning himself, looking up. "Come on lad, we don't have all day!" Demoman called down impatiently. Every second Scout wasted in taking the jump was a second less to save their teammates.

"Surely there's gotta be like some other way. I mean like, ya wastin' bombs doin' this!" Scout replied, still refusing to go.

"Lad, these bombs are made fer jumpin'. Normal bombs woulda blown yer legs right off! Now jump ya bloody idiot!" Demoman hissed. If Scout refused to, he'd go down on his own and grab him.

Clearly there was no other way around this. Shakily, he placed his feet in front of the bombs, carefully following Demoman's instructions to make sure he landed properly. As the bomb expert counted down, all he could think of he was going to die or going to land face first, so much that he did not hear Demoman's last count.

The bombs went off behind him, sending him flying, shrieking, through the air. Had he been a little heavier he may not have cleared the jump, but his weight allowed for him to get up onto the ledge without having to jump, even if he did flail a lot and stumble.

"Are ye mad boy?" Demoman hissed. "I told ye to jump and wot ye do?" Scout gave him a toxic look but said nothing in his defence as they set off once more towards the factory, or wherever they assumed the factory was.

There was a stony silence that sat between the five of them as they walked, all eyes set on the bot deployment carrier in the distance. It would not be too far of a walk, maybe 20, 30 minutes or so, but who knew what alarm triggers the darn thing had?

…

Truth be told, Axel and Medibot had no idea where they were going. Every hall looked the same, every room looked the same. For all they knew, the only way out was up the lift shaft again, but it wasn't entirely possible to climb up.

 _"Herr, do you even know where you're going?"_ Medibot asked. An innocent, honest question, one that Axel wished he could say yes to.

He sighed. "Not really. I've never been here in my life. Don't you have like, a map of this entire facility or something?"

 _"Yes, I do, but it doesn't include zhis floor. If anything, zhis place has been abandoned for years,"_ Medibot replied. Just to make sure, he scanned the internal map of the facility once more, in case there was any hidden files or anything, but nothing came up. Maybe one of the older bots would have a map he could extract, if he could find an old bot that hadn't already been incinerated.

Their luck didn't seem to turn up as they walked, with every turn looking the same and neither of them having an idea where to walk, until they reached an air vent. That had to lead somewhere, right? Axel gave it a long hard look, before grabbing onto it and trying to pull it away. When he didn't budge, he placed is palms flat onto the surface of the grate and melted it right through, making a hole big enough for them to crawl through. They waited for the glowing metal to cool before Axel hauled himself into the vent, dragging Medibot with him.

 _"So… ve just crawl through?"_ Medibot asked, a little hesitant even though he was already squeezed into the vent.

"You got a better plan?" The Pyro hissed back, starting to crawl through the vent. Hopefully it could take their weight, and hopefully it would lead somewhere actually helpful. He had a feeling they were going to be down there for a long time.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N. This chapter took really long and I'm sorry, but I tried to make it good to make up for the previous short (and poorly written) chapter.**

Freedom knew the place like the back of his hand. Unfortunately, he knew nothing about the back of his hand except that it was there. Just like that, he did not know anything about the large basement except that it was there. While he would never admit it, he had never wandered far from the little corner he had made home.

The old Soldierbot - far rustier and definitely less managed than Makina was - did his best to find a way out nonetheless. After failing to help Makina the first time months ago, he was determined to succeed this time.

He had led them far from the storage area, opening doors and checking as if he did not quite recall. After all, he had been down there for a long time, and a bot as old as he could not remember everything. In an attempt to try retain more information, he had deleted all his old files on things he did not need anymore, like fighting. He only retained one file on how to use a shovel in a lethal manner.

 _"Are you sure you know where you're going?"_ Makina asked. From behind, he continued to study the Soldierbot. For a bot that had not been properly maintained by a Medibot, he was in surprisingly good condition. He was scratched and rusty, sure, but he was dust free and the metal surface of his body was a shiny as it could get with nothing but an old rag.

Makina felt a little bad for him.

 _"Yes! I have explored every inch of this basement, but I may or may not have deleted some map files in an attempt to preserve memory,"_ Freedom admitted. He grabbed onto a door handle and pushed down on it, snorting in dismay when the handle did not give way. Whatever room was behind this door, he had not explored it yet.

He grabbed onto the handle and pushed down on it harder, exerting his weight onto the handle. A normal human would not have broken the lock, but being made of metal, Freedom was far heavier than a human, and the lock gave way under the weight.

The door swung open slowly, leaving only a small gap to peer through. Certain there was no danger beyond the door, Freedom nudged it open wider with a finger and walked through. The two robots and one mercenary were greeted with the echo of a large room, possibly as large as the entire basement itself. Around the room giant oil tanks were station, all of them attached to pipes that led upwards to the higher floors.

Horst took a moment to take it all in and ignore the smell of oil and dust. "You know, if zhere are oil tanks vith pipes that go up, zhen… surely zhere is a way from up zhere to access zhis place." There was a lot of truth in that sentence. Definitely aside from the lift there was another way that led up. A staircase or something. And if there was one, then it was likely around the area. It looked like a place that still needed to be accessed, and wandering around the dark basement made it unlikely for anyone to want to go through there to get here.

From where they stood, a window to a separate room on the floor above could barely be seen, but Makina had spotted it. _"There's a room up there. If anything, it'll be worth it to check it out. If there isn't a way out from there then there might be some information."_ It was a silent agreement that that was the smartest move for now.

As they looked around for a staircase or a ladder that led up to the metal platform the room sat on, Horst couldn't help but get a nagging feeling that something was off about the place, and a small worry over Axel and Medibot formed. Knowing that worry was an emotion not worth having, he pushed the feeling away and made his best attempt to ignore it. _They're trained mercenaries, or at least Pyro is. And the robot… he's a robot. Nothing to worry about._

Freedom had uncovered a small stairwell that went as far as the upper level of the giant room. It didn't go up to the factory floor, which was a shame, but none of them had expected such a great find. Even as they walked up, there was still a hollow echoing of white noise around the area, like air was being sucked out of the room.

The room was undoubtedly locked, but the handle was not coated in dust, indicating that others did indeed still visit. There was no one in the room at the moment, making it easy for Freedom to crack open the door. He exerted just a little pressure, and the handle gave way, granting them access to the room.

The control room was small and crammed. Panels with scattered buttons and lights that glowed green steadily and blank screens were all around. Instantly Makina was going through whatever he could, desperately looking for anything of use. He flicked on the computer screen and bent over, his blank lit eyes searching, scanning, looking through the computer files. There was absolutely nothing of interest.

Perhaps he needed to go further. Maybe there were encrypted files or something, hidden deep within the system. Well, he was a robot, right? He could integrate with the system. Makina reached back and pulled up a chair, sitting down without once looking away from the screen. He had to find something, anything at all, to prove that his theories of what Gray Industries really was, was true. Anything to show that he was not insane.

…

The vents were hot and stuffy, and it made Axel very frustrated as he dragged himself through, pausing momentarily occasionally to look down through the grates for anything of interest before moving on. Medibot was behind him, maintaining a distance to even out the weight the air vent had to take. If they were too close to each other, there was a high possibility of the vent giving way beneath them and causing some problems.

"This is ridiculous," The Pyro muttered, crawling forward, careful to make sure his weight was not concentrated on one spot. He passed over a grate in the vent, making sure to avoid touching the grate entirely, before turning around to peer through it.

Below was a mere white tiled floor, indicating that they were no longer in the basement, or at least no longer in the dusty, cement-floored part of the basement. Whatever it was, it was worth taking a look.

Medibot crawled a little nearer to look through as well, careful not to touch the grate and to even out his weight as best as he could. There were no sounds of robots, no silent whirring of active processors or anything. But robots could be deceptively quite, and that was a risk that could not be taken.

"Do you have like, some kind of sensor that can tell if any robots are nearby?" Axel whispered over to his metal companion.

Medibot shook his head. _"Ah, no, but I do know how robots behave, and unless zhey're deactivated, zhey vouldn't be so quiet. Nonetheless, we should just wait a bit in case anyone comes in."_

On Medibot's advice, the two of them stayed in the vent, listening for any sound of life. After a solid five minutes of waiting, they decided it was safe to go down. Carefully, Axel removed the grate as quietly as he could and let Medibot slide down first, before he followed.

The 'room' was just a hallway, with no one on both ends, and no doors around. From there, they could walk, but not before getting their hands on some weapons.

…

"Alrighty boys, we're near the deployment carrier. Remember - we ain't fightin' if we don't have to. So shut yer mouths and let's go," Engineer ordered. The blue tanker were just a mere minute's walk away, and it loomed large, casting a huge shadow onto the barren, earthy ground. If anything, it looked a lot more intimidating than it did from the loading dock at Mannhattan.

Everyone had their weapons close and ready in case any alarms were tripped or anyone was alerted of their presence. The team was tense as they approached the tanker, but visibly relaxed as they passed the opened ramp and saw no robots inside, waiting.

Scout fought the urge to say something, knowing he had to keep quiet in case of anything or anyone waiting to pounce on them. Engineer paused for a moment, staring inside with a thoughtful look on his face.

There didn't seem to be a direct passage from the factory to a carrier, and the carrier had a belt going around its wheels to facilitate movement. If there were no bots inside, and it could move, then it meant it would travel back to the main factory. He wouldn't bet on how long it would take for the carrier to move back to the factory, but it was something worth a try.

"Hey boys, I got an idea," Engineer said. He waited for the group to gather around him before he spoke. "This carrier looks like it has to move back to the factory to get bots. We don't really know where the factory is so…"

Heavy narrowed his eyes for a bit. "What is Engineer saying?"

"I'm sayin' that we should hitch a ride on this carrier."

While most of the team had the 'are you fucking serious' face, Spy looked thoughtful. "It could work, but we can't be in the carrier. The old man probably has some camera or security system linked up, but we could be on the carrier instead until we get close enough to the factory, then enter from a different direction."

The team stared at each other for a moment, and without a word, started to climb on top of the carrier. Once they were all settled, they stared at each other. Scout was about to ask when the damn thing was going to move, when the carrier rumbled and jerked a little as it started up and turned away from the Mann Co. facility, and back to where it came from.

"Are ye sure this will work?" Demoman asked, having settled himself on the top of the tanker, while Engineer rested one platform lower.

"Not a clue, but since when has our job ever been about certainty?"

…

 _Ever since Gray asked him to be his personal assistant Makina knew something was up. He knew how to look into Gray, identify emotions other bots couldn't. Gray was a suspicious figure, who hid away things and schemed and plotted and planned._

 _Once or twice he had mentioned of the city, and entering it, and escape routes. Makina knew something was up. He had asked Gray once, and the man had not replied, and only shot him a suspicious look for a brief second before letting it fall away._

 _It's none of your concern, Makina. And I suggest you do not continue to pry._

 _Makina stopped asking after that, but continued to find information of his own. Over time he had made theories that Gray was going to attack more than just Mann Co. He was going to steal Australium and use it to somehow, take over Australia, then take over other countries using their power._

 _But they were just theories, with nothing to support it. But they were realistic theories. He just had to find proof, find files, fine sources of information and prove it._

 _But even if he proved it, then what?_

 _Then what?_


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N. I don't expect chapters to get posted faster, suddenly school work is piling on and I haven't started anything at all so…**

The halls were definitely not deserted after all. As Axel and Medibot made a turn, they nearly crashed into a Demobot, ducking out of the way just in time. Knowing they couldn't say anything in case the Demobot picked up on them, they started to silently argue with each other in an attempt to decide whether they should turn around and go the other way, or fight the robot, take its weapons, and risk alerting other bots.

A lot of hand gestures and scowls were thrown around before the decision was made to fight the robot. There only seemed to be one, and if they went the other way there was the possibility of more waiting for them.

The Demobot stood perfectly still, not moving at all. It would have seemed deactivated if not for its central eye lit up. Medibot inched forward, as fast as he could go without his wheel making any noise, up to the corner of the wall they hid behind. He gave the Pyro an uncertain look for a moment.

On a silent cue, Medibot sprang from the corner and grabbed the Demobot, hauling it around to face Axel, who put a hand to its face and melted it clean through. The Demobot barely had time to scream before half its head had melted into hot, liquid metal. Axel snatched up its weapons and Medibot placed the bot against the wall to sizzle and steam.

Axel tossed Medibot the grenade launcher. "Alright, let's head up and see where the hell this place goes."

They continued to check every door, and a little something that felt like hope fluttered in Axel's chest when they found a stairwell that went up. The two of them entered the stairwell, Axel starting to climb up when he noticed Medibot was not following.

"Hey, you coming?" The Pyro asked, pausing on the stairs.

Medibot looked down at the step. _"I ah- I can't… actually… climb stairs."_ He seemed almost guilty of that fact, if robots knew guilt. Maybe Medibot did, who knew?

For a moment they stared at each other, as each of them tried to figure a way to get Medibot up the stairs. "I could carry you, I guess. But it depends on how heavy you are." Axel could just manage to carry Soldier, and Soldier was a pretty big guy. He went back down the stairs and carefully hefted Medibot onto his back. He seemed just a little heavier than Soldier.

"Jesus, you're really heavy," Axel hissed under the weight.

 _"Vell what do you expect? I'm made of metal, Herr Pyro."_

"Yeah yeah…"

…

Makina pulled himself away from the computer with a gasp, frustrated that it had contained nothing of importance, nothing of interest. _"Damnit,"_ He muttered, tempted to shove the computer off the table. The thought that the noise could attract some unwanted attention was his only restraint.

Of course, why would a simple computer in a place as drab and old ad this contain anything of importance? Makina shook his head as Freedom can running back, pleased with himself at having found something of interest with Horst.

 _"Mac! We found something! While you were looking through that damned computer of yours we found a stairwell and went up. It leads straight back to the factory floor!"_ Freedom seemed entirely proud of himself for finally having done something of use.

Makina gave him a nod. _"I hope you didn't alert any of them,"_ he said, remembering for a moment that Freedom could be… loud. He hoped Horst had the sense to keep him quiet.

"Nein, none of zhe bots noticed. If anyzhing, zhey seem distracted," Horst said. "If zhere is a good time to go back up, now vould be it."

Having nothing else to find in the oil control room, Makina nodded. _"Alright, lead the way."_

Freedom was more than pleased to lead back to the staircase they had found earlier, behind a rusted door with its dirty paint peeling off. Quickly, they headed up the stairs, passing only a single door before Freedom stopped, carefully twisting the doorknob and nudging open the door.

Robots seemed to mill around but true to Horst's word, none of them paid any attention. Instead, things seemed frantic, and it was barely a few seconds before alarms blared overhead and red alert lights flashed.

 _ATTENTION ROBOTS! MERCENARIES HAVE ENTERED THE COMPOUND! ALL MERCENARIES ARE TO BE KILLED ON SIGHT._

The message rang out in a robotic tone of voice, repeating its final orders to the robots on the factory floor. Around them things started to kick into action, and Makina knew very well it was time to high-tail it out of there.

Just as the mercenaries were about to turn and leave, one of the Scoutbots noticed the three of them. _"Traitors!"_ It screeched, rearing its bat back. As if in sync, all the robots in the Scoutbot's vicinity seemed to turn their heads towards the three escaped mercenaries at once. There was a deafening moment of silence.

"Move!" Horst ordered, turning and starting to sprint away. Makina and Freedom followed behind, as the thundering sound of possibly a hundred robots chasing them began to clash.

They did not know where to run. Or at least, Freedom and Horst did not know, but Makina was sure to know the factory a whole lot better. The Sniperbot took the lead, sprinting past as many robots as possible. None of them had weapons say for Freedom's shovel, but that was all they had.

 _"We'll head down to the deployment area and lose them there!"_ Makina ordered. It wasn't a long way to the deployment facility, and if there was a carrier waiting there, they could use it to get out of the facility. Medibot and Pyro would have to find their own way out.

All the halls and all the corridors seemed the same to Horst and Freedom. Freedom had not been up here on the factory floors in months, and things had changed since then. For a moment he was confused, and a little determined to find something he recognised about the factory, but the stampede of bots behind him kept him running.

As soon as they were into the deployment facility, Makina slammed the door shut and rolled down the shutter. It would keep the bots out and away, at least for a little while. Just a little time was all he needed to obtain a deployment carrier and get the hell out.

Freedom gave his surroundings a look as Makina began to tap into a computer and Horst leaned against a wall to recharge a little. Yeah, he remembered the place. He remembered the first time he had been deployed to Bigrock. It was a mere five months ago, but yet to a bot as old as he was it seemed like decades. He had been silenced into awe and mesmerisation as he wandered around the deployment facility, remembering all the old times.

 _"Perfect. There's a carrier coming back in about five minutes. In whatever time we have, we need weapons. They should have some around here."_ Makina tapped around the computer a bit more before standing up in triumph.

"Vait- vhat about Herr Pyro and Medibot?" Horst asked. There was a slight sinking feeling within him. All this time he had been running, fighting, for his own life, that he had forgotten about the very man he was trapped with in the first damn place.

At that moment Makina felt the first pang of guilt. Being a robot was great - you never had to experience bad feeling like loss, guilt, regret, sadness. And while Makina was glad he was capable of experiencing some - albeit a rather limited range - emotions, guilt had never crossed him until that point. It felt odd.

He looked away for a moment, unsure of how to reply. It was his and Horst's freedom over the lives of Medibot and Pyro. _"I… we can't. There are possibly a thousand bots or more outside, waiting for take your head and throw me into an incinerator. Pyro and Medibot are capable of finding their way out on their own. Even if we go back, we'll likely die as well."_

Horst scowled. Had this happened while back in Teufort, he would not have minded leaving a RED. He was a BLU, Axel was a RED. He didn't have to care. But after months of fighting robots with the Pyro, something a little like friendship had formed. And he was no psychopath like a number of his teammates.

"I don't care vhat you do, once vay or anozher ve are going back for zhem," Horst hissed. He stepped up to match Makina's height, his icy eyes holding a silent threat within them. Makina held the stare for a moment before turning away.

 _"Fine. We'll go back for them, but not like this. At the very least, you need your teammates if you want even the slightest chance at fighting Gray's robots. He has an endless army. Plus your teammates, and assuming the other two are alive, all we have is… nine of us. "_

Horst considered Makina's words for a moment. He was right. He didn't even have his Medigun or Ubersaw, which meant all he had as healers or weapons were his hands. He continued to stare at his hands for a moment.

"DOC!"

Something fairly heavy suddenly slammed down onto Horst's back. He stumbled for a bit, throwing whatever the hell was on his off. The doctor spun around on one foot, ready to fight, all muscles tense. He only relaxed when he recognised the young man in a blue shirt, and a familiar animal-head bonnet.

Scout leapt in front of Horst, pointing his scattergun at both Freedom and Makina, who backed off a little. "Man, who the hell are these guys? Doc, why aren't ya beatin' them apart?" Scout demanded, ready to shoot. Horst grabbed the gun and pulled it away from Scout's hands before he could shoot.

"Dude, what the hell is ya problem? Man, did they do somethin' to ya noggin?" Scout hissed.

Horst returned the gun. "Zhey're allies. Do you see zhem trying to kill me?" He snapped in return. "And how zhe hell are you here? Vhere are zhe rest?"

"The rest?" Scout repeated dumbly. "Oh yeah! Well we split up. Oi Spy! Come out, ya crazy frog!" He called to seemingly no one.

 _Spy? Since when did we have a Spy?_ Horst thought. A RED Spy clad in a smart suit and a hood that shaded his facial features materialised from the shadows, stepping up behind Scout.

"Surprise, surprise, the doctor isn't dead," Spy snorted. "And you know Scout, I bet the old man already know we're here, what with all your shouting." He gave Makina and Freedom a quick and wary glance. "Who are these two?"

 _"Allies,"_ Makina stated flatly.

"Look, vhere are zhe rest of zhe team?" Horst demanded. if anything, they should be looking for Axel and Medibot.

Scout shrugged, leaving Spy to answer. "They're entering the facility from different areas. If all went according to plan, Engineer and Heavy should be entering from the west end of the facility and Demoman should already be inside. Where's Pyro?"

Medic frowned. "Truth be told, Herr Spy, we haven't see him in some time. I vouldn't know."

The five mercenaries lapsed into silence for a moment, before a metal hand jammed itself under the shutter and began to haul it up. Spy gave the hand a look.

"I don't suppose you have weapons," The Frenchman commented. He removed his revolver from his jacket and tossed it to Horst.

"Now let's go. If I'm correct, and I usually am, there are about three hundred robots waiting outside. At the most my sapper can take down about at most, fifteen of them and I don't know how many I could stab in that amount of time, but I doubt there is another way out of here so…"

Makina swept his gaze around the room.

 _"Get ready to fight."_


	12. Chapter 12

"God damnit, Medibot, you're really heavy," Axel huffed, setting down the robot before doubling over, panting with effort. His back strained from having carried the robot up about six flights of stairs, having to pause every flight.

 _"Like I said Herr, I'm made of metal. I'm sure if I vas made of flesh and bone like you are, I'd be far lighter,"_ Medibot replied. He had done whatever he could to help Axel, like having removed whatever parts he could replace easily. Which meant Axel had to go back down the last flight, take whatever remains was left there, and walk back up.

Medibot was certain of Axel's death glare as he went back down, gathering up the spare parts that had been removed, and returned. Medibot took a moment to fix back whatever removed parts before nodding to Axel, giving him the go to open the door.

They kept their stolen weapons close and at ready to be used, gingerly pushing open the door. Right above the door a red light flashed, making them freeze for a moment when they thought they had triggered it. Robots didn't seem to be around the door, so they exited the stairwell carefully.

Something moving caught Medibot's attention. While Axel scouted ahead, he went to investigate. Carefully, he approached the source of the movement, yelping in surprise when a red grenade popped out from the source. In his panic, Medibot returned three grenades, though inexperience in using a grenade launcher had his shots inaccurate and flying all over the place.

Axel snapped back and ran back to Medibot. "What the hell?"

A roaring Demoman leapt from the corner, brandishing his sword, ready to take Medibot's head. Axel shoved the robot back and stood between them. "Demo! Stop it!"

The sword froze, held above Demoman's head. For a moment he stood staring at Pyro, in his fireproof suit and gloves and boots and all, but no mask - just a white dragon skull mask sitting clipped to his belt.

"Pyro! Yer alright lad!" Demoman lowered the sword and embraced Axel in a crushing hug, one that squeezed a gasp out of him.

Axel took a gaping breath when he was finally let go, stumbling backward into Medibot who caught him. As if Demoman suddenly remembered the robot, he raised his grenade launcher. "Lad… don't move. Bloody bot…" He snarled, narrowing his lone eye at the silver Medic, who had no idea if he should run or hold his ground.

"No no, don't kill him. He's with me," Axel said, regaining his composure. Demoman gave him a certain look that could be read as the _Are-you-really-who-you-look-like_ face, suddenly becoming wary of the Pyro. Axel returned a _You-have-got-to-be-fucking-kidding-me_ face. Demoman suddenly swung out a fist at him, catching Pyro right in the jaw.

"Goddamnit you fucker!" Axel snarled. He glared at Demoman who looked rather satisfied with himself.

"Aye, sorry boyo. Just had ta know ye weren't one of those metal scraps," Demoman explained.

 _"Metal vhat?"_ Medibot repeated, sounding rather offended as Demoman eyed the grenade launcher in the robot's hands.

"Lad, d'ye even know how ta use that?" He asked. Medibot looked down at the launcher, then shook his head.

Demoman exchanged his sword for the grenade launcher, seemingly very pleased with himself for having two grenade launchers now. "Well I'm sure ye know how ta use _that._ Just swing it at people until they die."

"Wait wait, if you're here, where's the rest?" Axel asked. He still kept the stickybomb launcher near him as his only defence.

Demoman's eye wandered around the area as if he was looking for answers. "We split up when we got near. Scout and Spy went from the back, Engineer and Heavy went Lord knows where. I'd love ta tell ye where they are exactly, but I have no bloody idea."

 _"Never mind zhat, for now ve half to move because zhere are hundreds, maybe thousands of Gray's robots hunting us down,"_ Medibot hissed. He urged to them start leaving, rolling ahead with Demoman's sword in hand.

They remained as silent as possible, for fear of triggering anything or catching anyone's attention. Medibot avoided places where he knew cameras were watching, though it would not be that easy to escape the many eyes Gray had planted all over the facility.

From his office Gray watched the many screens linked up to many cameras, his eyes darting from one screen to another, trying to catch the mercenaries that had invaded. He was tense, though he would never admit it. He hadn't thought Hale's mercenaries were smart enough to come looking for their friends.

A flicker of movement from one of the screens caught his attention. Instantly he was focused, watching as two men - a Heavy and an Engineer, passed along a hallway, easily fighting their way through swarms of robots. Gray scowled, wrinkles forming. From the floor, Olivia climbed onto a chair to get a better look.

"Don't worry daddy, they won't be able to get through all those robots," the little girl said. She looked innocent, but her heart was filled with the same cruel ambition as her father.

A crooked smile formed on Gray's lips. "You're right, Olivia dear. They won't, and I'll make sure of that."

…

Beyond the seemingly endless halls Heavy and Engineer were having a wild time shooting through robots. The metal warriors didn't seem to be able to hold up much and if anything, in such a tight space they faired even worse against the two REDs.

Scoutbots were clambering over each other and squeezing and pushing and shoving in their automated attempt to reach the mercenaries. The result was a slow moving line of robots also helping to destroy themselves.

"Leetle robots are stupid," Heavy commented casually as his minigun fired off into the crowd. Beside him, Engineer simply used a shotgun to fend himself. As they mowed through the hoard of robots, they looking around carefully, watching for anything of interest.

"Y'know, I'm startin' ta worry if the rest are alright. We should've considered some for of communication," Engineer muttered as the oncoming swarm of robots began to die down. Once they were in the clear, they began to warily wander around, having no exact idea where to go or what to do.

Engineer frowned, his hidden eyes darting around, searching the bleak, harshly-lit hallways as if a distant corner or a wall would magically have an answer written on it. He did not like being in a space he did not know - it made him greatly uncomfortable, his thumb constantly rubbing over the handle of the shotgun to remind himself it was there if he needed it.

They stopped in front of a door with a sign that screams for people to keep out. Naturally, it made the two mercenaries want to enter all the more. With his gloved hand, Engineer grabbed onto the door handle and pushed down. It didn't budge, frustrating him. He raised his shotgun, ready to shoot the handle when Heavy put his larger hand on the shotgun, lowering the barrel.

"Is not necessary, Engineer," the Russian fighter said. He crackled his knuckles and grabbed the handle, pushing down on it with as much force as a man as large as he could. The handle resisted for a moment, before it heaved and the lock broke under the weight.

Heavy flashed Engineer a triumphant smile, before gently nudging the door open. The room beyond was dark, but it did not stop the two REDs from entering anyway.

Carefully, they ran their hands around the wall a bit in search of a light switch. It took a little fumbling and tripping over wires that snaked around the floor, but Engineer managed to find a switch and flicked it on. A soft buzzing echoed around the room as the harsh, fluorescent lights flickered on.

Engineer sucked in a breath of awe as his eyes drifted upon two robots sitting at the end of the hallway, still deactivated. They were shiny and new, metal still polished and gleaming, not a scratch on them.

Heavy continued to lurk behind as Engineer approached the robots, gently running two fingers along the smooth surface of metal. One resembled a Pyro, and one a Medic. Immediately his mind linked back to the two missing mercenaries, and his heart dropped. Was it possible? Had that sick bastard Gray turned two living men into robots?

He took a closer inspection, going around the robots and peering inside as best as he could without taking it apart, before heaving a sigh of relief. They were completely made of metal and wire, as far as he could tell. During his investigation, he had noticed something unusual. At the centre of each palm on the Pyro was what seemed like a nozzle, embedded into the metal so that it didn't stick out. A new prototype, perhaps? The Medibot had similar features.

Engineer was so tempted to find some way to activate the robots to see what they would do, but Heavy seemed to want to leave. "Engineer. Is time to go. We must find Pyro and Doktor."

A small pang of guilt hit Engineer, but he shook it out. If there was time, he'd come back for these robots later. He nodded, following Heavy back out into the halls. He made a mental note on the door and left it.

…

Instead of following the plan Spy had lay out for everyone, chaos erupted instead. As soon as the doors opened, robots swarmed in. Spy had just enough time to sap the first few that came in, creating a barrier of paralysed bots. The rest was a mess. Bullets flew and Freedom repeatedly hit things with his shovel.

 _You must be kidding me,_ Spy thought as he ducked away and jam a knife into a Scoutbot's back, severing the wires that connected its core processor to its engine. By that point Scout had retreated up onto a high crate and was resorting to shooting from up there as other robots clambered after him. "A little help guys?" He called, a scream escaping his lips quickly after as a Scoutbot leapt onto his back, trying to throw him off the crate. "Oh my god get this off!"

Horst turned and fled from his little battle with a Demobot to help Scout, climbing up the crate as his hands began to spark and crackle with energy. Once he reached the top of the crate, he snagged the Scoutbot off its human counterpart and flung it down the crate, a barrier of energy flowing out and forming a translucent shield that glowed a soft blue.

Any robots that came into contact with the barrier popped and sizzled, those caught right through the middle of the barrier disintegrating into a smoking black mess. Horst was aware it wouldn't last for long, so with Scout now free to leap back into the fray, he himself jumped back down onto the ground to catch as many robots with the Vril barrier as possible.

As soon as the outside was clear, Makina ran out. _"Let's get going before anyone else gets here!"_ He commanded. Spy waited for everyone else to leave - mostly Scout - before he rounded them up from behind.

"We need to find the rest. Meet at a central point, whatever's easiest for everyone. The less time we take to meet up, the more time we'll have to get out. Robot, what's the most central point in this building?" Spy asked. He was going to hack some form of communication system and let the rest know - if they were still alive.

Makina couldn't help but feel a little irritated at being addressed as a 'robot'. It reminded him of how cold he was. He was a little tempted to return with a snarky remark, but it wouldn't help. _"Centre point of the facility is a bridge between here and the second wing of the factory. It's not going to be fun or anything, because that place blew up some years ago and no one fixed it, mostly because there's not much of interest in the second wing."_

"What's the next best place then?"

The group didn't stop moving. They couldn't, it was far too much of a risk to stop. _"If everyone's in this wing, a centre point isn't the best place to be, but Gray's office is. You can get there, you can take over the facility. It's as heavily guarded as Area 51 would be, so if you're planning to get there…"_ Makina huffed, _"be careful."_

Spy nodded. "So I will be. I will take the boy with me in case anything goes wrong." Scout adjusted his bonnet and give Spy a firm nod, gripping his scattergun tighter. Already he was forming an idea of how well guarded Gray's office would be.

"Once we have shut down the defences on Gray's office, come up. Till then, try to find the rest." With that, the two mercenaries split from the group and went off on their own, disappearing down one of the hallways.

…

"This place is robot hell." Demoman's one eye flicked around, keeping a constant lookout for robots coming. For the loss of one eye, his hearing had been a little sharper.

"As in, hell for robots or hell with robots?" Axel returned. Already his knuckles were red and sore from an earlier fistfight with another Pyrobot.

"How about both? Aye lad, do robots have hell?" Medibot gave Demoman a sideway glance, unsure how to answer the question.

For their entire time walking, nothing interesting had happened say for a fight here or there with a guard. _"I don't know. If an incinerator can count as hell, zhen yes, ve do have one."_ He paused as a message blinked by, his steps slowing to a halt as he opened and read the message from Makina.

 _From: SNP359-08 (Alias: Makina)_

 _To: MED208-07 (Alias: None)_

 _Doc. If you're still alive with the Pyro, get up to Gray's office as soon as you can. There's a Spy and a Scout working to shut off the defences. I'm still here with Medic and Freedom. Reply if you're still alive._

Medibot took a moment to write back to Makina. Axel noticed him stop walking, and prodded him. "Hey, you okay?"

 _From: MED208-07 (Alias: None)_

 _To: SNP359-08 (Alias: Makina)_

 _I'm still here, and the Pyro's still alive. We have a Demoman as well. We'll get to Gray's office as soon as possible._

The message blinked away as it was sent, and Medibot snapped out of his momentary pause. _"Ja, sorry. Makina sent me a message. Ve have to go up to Gray's office. Apparently some of your friends are trying to disable zhe security system up zhere, if zhat's even possible without Gray's biosignature."_

Medibot hefted the sword up again, turning to lead them up to Gray's office. He pushed open another door to a stairwell and looked at the ground in guilt as Axel scowled at the stairs.

"Not this shit again."


	13. Chapter 13

Spy was heavily reliant on Scout for his gun, for he had given his revolver to Horst. He didn't like having to rely on the BLU for a gun, and he would never have admitted it. They took the stairs, having found out that the lift wasn't working. In fact, the lift wasn't even in the lift shaft at all.

As they walked up the stairs, voices began to echo from floors below. Spy leaned over the edge of the railing to look down, though from where he was he couldn't see anyone. "Stay quiet," he ordered Scout, who nodded and gestured zipping his lips. "Keep going up."

Spy himself cloaked and went back down the stairs, keeping his eye on the bars of his Invis-Watch.

"Lad, I'm sorry I didn't believe ye when ye said he was heavy."

"Shut the fuck up and just walk."

 _"It's not my fault I'm heavy."_

Spy narrowed his eyes, standing at the top of the stairs and watching as Demoman and Pyro came into view, carrying a Medibot between them. They looked tired from having to carry something so heavy.

Out of natural instinct, Axel's head snapped up, his eyes darting around as he heard the familiar sound of a Spy decloaking. "Spy?" He called out, hoping he hadn't just been hearing things.

The assassin gracefully appeared from the higher flight of stairs, standing on the ledge above the two mercenaries and staring down at them. From where he stood, Axel could see Spy's eyes gleam with pity at them from under the hood.

"Gentlemen," Spy greeted, not approaching them to help. He was not a man made for labour like that.

Demoman scowled. "Oi lad, get down here and help us carry him."

Spy seemed to consider the order for a moment, then shook his head. "Non. If anything, I am going back up to disable the security system. Goodbye." He cloaked once more as the two REDs yelled after him.

He joined Scout back on the top floor. "Who was that?" Scout asked.

"Pyro and Demoman. Carrying a robot. Not sure why, but it is none of my business. Now, where is the security system?"

Scout took another look out of the tiny frame of a window. "Can't see it from here. If anythin', it's probably inside the damn room."

Spy narrowed his eyes as he looked out of the door, pulling his disguise kit out of his jacket pocket. He opened it, taking a quick browse through the options before smoke engulfed him and Spy had turned into a Mecha-Engineer.

Scout seemed to be a mix of awe and disgust. The 'mecha-engineer' had the exact same likeness as the real one, which made him a little tempted to shoot the Spy.

"Now, you can't disguise so I'm going to go out, take that Scoutbot's head, and you're gonna put it on. Understand? If these robots are as stupid as they make out to be, you'll be fine." Scout seemed a little disturbed at the disguised Spy spoke in a metallic voice identical to a real Mecha-Engineer. He nodded along.

The Mecha-Engineer nudged Scout out of view from the door and opened it with all the confidence of a real robot, walking out casually. The guard robots stood perfectly still at their posts, ignoring the Mecha-Engineer walking by. They were indifferent to the disguised Spy passing them, unaware of what he actually was.

Spy gave the wall a quick scan, looking for any panels. He turned down a hallway and grabbed the first Scoutbot that passed, quickly severing its head and gently letting the rest of the sparking body fall. He cloaked, safely returning to Scout with the head.

"Put it on," Spy ordered, still disguised as the Mecha-Engineer. Scout took the scout's head in his hands, turning it over for a moment before he slowly fitted the hollow metal thing around his head.

"Ya know, I can't see out of this shit."

"Well figure it out somehow." Spy didn't give Scout any time to adjust the head so he could see before leaving.

The two of them walked down, eyeing the heavily guarded door leading to Gray's office. There were two Heavybots and two Soldierbots on each side of the door, holding weapons at ready. None of them gave the two a passing glance.

Spy decided to try his luck. He walked up to the door, one of the Heavybots reaching out to stop him. _"What is your business?"_

Spy's calculative mind thought up a response in an instant. "Gray sent for office repairs." Short, simple, sweet answer.

The Heavybot eyed him for a moment, considering the Mecha-Engineer's answer. Behind, Scout tried not to do anything stupid and un-robot-like out of nervousness. There was a brief moment of intense staring between the Heavybot and Mecha-Engineer, but Spy held his ground and didn't flinch. The Heavyboy relented, stepping aside to let the Mecha-Engineer into the office. Scout managed to slip past as well, the door swinging shut behind him.

They took a quick look around the office, looking for any cameras. Still disguised, he approached the security camera, pulling his butterfly knife out, and cutting the wire linking the camera up to the master panel. He did the same for any other cameras found in the room, before finally undisguising.

"Alright, now, let's see what we have here," Spy hummed, moving to the control panel behind Gray's desk. Scout continued to wander around, marvelling at the view from the office. He leapt into Gray's chair, relaxing.

Spy shot him a dirty look, but didn't say anything about it. He leaned over the panels, quickly typing away and hacking into the files. A little French muttering came from him as he clicked away.

"Man, this view is great!" Scout grinned. He rolled Gray's chair over to the window, taking a look at the view. There wasn't much to look at say for a forest, but it was peaceful nonetheless.

Spy ignored Scout's rambling, focusing all his attention on the computer. He had found access to all the building's lockdowns and security cameras, and all he had to do was shut it down. The Frenchman clicked around, a sly smile growing when he found the master command. Quickly, he entered it in, stepping away from the computer in triumph when the screen returned with a message that said all cameras and lockdowns were suspended.

"Aw man Spy, great job!" Scout said, getting off the chair. As he met him, something sounding eerily like a gun safety clicked.

"Oh… it sure is a great job Mr. Spy."

The two of them spun around, glaring at the little girl standing at point-blank range, holding a pistol that seemed far too large for her hands.

"I'm sure daddy would love to meet you two. I'm sure you know him," Olivia grinned. Despite her age, there was something extremely dark about her - and it wasn't just the gun in her hand.

Scout rolled his eyes. "Look here girly, I don't wanna have to punch ya, do why don't ya just get outta the way? Run off and go play somewhere."

Olivia narrowed her eyes, making them look like that of a cat's. It was fairly intimidating. "Daddy always taught me not to be rude… and you shouldn't too."

"Spy, can I just hit her-"

 _BANG._

 _…_

"Did you hear zhat?"

 _"Hear what, exactly? There's a lot going on ad you're not being very specific."_

"Like, a gunshot. And a scream."

 _"No, I didn't hear it. I've lived most of my life around gunfire so I've learnt to block out those things."_

"Vell maybe I should just check it out…"

Makina shook his head. _"There's no time for that, unless you don't mind wasting more time getting killed."_

"As if ve aren't already vasting time here," Horst muttered. Already Makina's arm had been shot off. The robot now held it in his other intact hand, staring at the torn wires in dismay. After the rain of bullets, they had retreated to a tiny store room where they were now hiding out in. "I'd help you fix zhat, but I know nothing about robots except zhat they are a huge problem in mein life. No offence."

 _"None taken, I don't know how to hold grudges."_ The two of them lapsed into silence once more as robots thundered past outside, their feet clanking against the smooth floor. They would just have to sit here and wait it out until the outside cleared off.

…

By the time Axel and Demoman got to the top of the stairs, they were sore and tired, but worried for the gunshot and the scream that sounded scarily like Scout's. They put Medibot down on the ground, taking a moment to regain their strength.

"Okay so uh, I don't know if Spy has disabled the security systems but-" He was cut short as a bullet pinged against the door, making him flinch. "-Clearly the robots aren't disabled so, small problem there."

Demoman readied his grenade launcher. "Aye lad, that's why we have weapons. And we fought a lot of bots before, wot makes ye think we can't handle these?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that they know the place and we don't?"

The Scotsman laughed, kicking open the door. "That isn't gonna stop us this time lad!"

Several grenades were fired into he hallway, the grenades clinking against the floor. Immediately all attention was on them. The grenades exploded, shoving the Heavybots away from the door. "Go lad! Get inside!"

Axel made a run for the door, hoping he was nimble enough to dodge the recovering Heavybots. He still had the stickybomb launcher in his hands, and only at that point did he realise he had no idea how to use it.

"Oh fucking hell," Axel cursed, abandoning the stickybomb launcher. He'd just have to rely on his fists. As he made a run for the office door, one of the quicker Heavybots snatched him up by the neck, slamming him against the wall.

He kicked around for a moment, grabbing onto the Heavybot's hand and melting it clean through. By now his hands were burning hot, giving him a good advantage. Of course, the best would be when they were in flames, but he'd take whatever he could get.

The Heavybot let go of him, but before Axel could move, the other metal fist slammed into him, throwing his smaller body against the office door and into the room.

Spy looked up as the heavy glass door of the office shattered and in came the Pyro, who was slowly getting to his feet, spitting blood. Outside sounded like a war zone, in which the war was a demolitions expert and a Medibot with a sword, against 2 Heavybots and 2 Soldierbots.

"Pyro, where is the Medic?" Spy hissed. He was crouched over something, but Axel couldn't exactly see what.

Axel stumbled to his feet, spitting out blood while he cursed under his breath. "Which Medic? The BLU?"

"Whichever can heal!" Axel flinched a little at how agitated Spy was.

He got over to Spy, wondering why the heck he was so tense. Lying against the back of Gray's desk was Scout, his blue shirt very quickly staining red. Scout's dull eyes struggled to stay open.

Axel got up, rushing to the door. Demoman was just finishing off the last Soldierbot, grabbing it and throwing it into a wall before stabbing his sword into it. "Medibot, get over here. Scout's hurt."

Quickly the robot wheeled over and into the room, stopping short when he realised he had no medigun. _"I…"_

"Fix him," Spy hissed, his death glare hidden from view by his hood.

Medibot couldn't say anything. He couldn't fix Scout.

 _"I'm sorry, Herr. I can't."_

Slowly, Spy turned to look at Medibot. "What do you mean, you _can't?"_ His voice was filled with poison. Even a robot like Medibot could tell he was pissed.

 _"I don't have a medigun, Herr Spy."_ Medibot couldn't say more. Guilt was starting to plague him. How he wished he couldn't feel guilt now.

Medibot quickly sent Makina a message, asking where Horst was. If the doctor could get up fast enough, maybe Scout wouldn't have to die. He was disappointed when Makina reported that they were still trapped in the store room.

Spy had sank to his knees, Scout's blood staining his gloves. Olivia had long since escaped the room already. "I'm so sorry Zack," he whispered, not wanting to look at him. "I shouldn't have even let Jesse let you become a mercenary."

Scout's eyes lit up a little. "The fuck you talking about…?"

Spy's heart sank. He still didn't know. Jesse must have thrown out everything about him while Scout was still young. "Nothing. I'm sorry Scout. It was an honour working with you." Maybe it was better if he didn't know.

A small smile tugged at the corner of Scout's lips. "Thanks frog. You too." Weak coughs broke his sentence up. The room lapsed into silence as Scout's stare turned glassy and unseeing. Quietly, Spy reached forward and undid his dog tags, leaving one of the tags in his palm and taking the other with him. He tied the chain and the dog tag around the handle of his knife, and took the cheetah-head bonnet with him.

"Let's go. We still have to get out." Spy's voice was deadpan and emotionless. He would get revenge on Olivia and Gray, one way or another.

Axel, Demoman and Medibot nodded. "Aye, let's go get the lads and get th' hell outta this robot hell."


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: CACAWWWWW I AM NOT DEAD. I made this one extra long and with some funny/flirtatious bits as a way of saying how sorry I am for how extremely long I made you all wait for this. The muse is picking up again so this story should hit full speed again soon!**

Olivia watched as her father paced the room, putting on his coat and tucking a revolver into one of the pockets. "Those good for nothing robots," Gray muttered, checking himself to make sure he had everything. "Can't do anything right. I have to go down there and kill them myself if I want it done."

"Well you could always release the prototypes," Olivia suggested, her eyes sparkling with interest at the idea of releasing the two robots.

"If we don't have to, I don't want to yet. But just in case, stay up here and prepare to release them. If I don't return in an hour, activate them. You remember how to, right Olivia?"

She nodded. "Yes daddy."

Gray pulled on a pair of gloves. It was snowing outside, and if he had to chase the mercenaries all the way out into the open - so be it.

The old man pushed his way out of the small room. Around him the offline robots were beginning to start up again. He scowled, knowing mercenaries had been in his office.

…

" _We have three minutes to get out of the factory. After that, all robots will be online again,"_ Makina warned. He and Horst had finally managed to get out of the closet, taking advantage of what little time they had while the robots were temporarily deactivated.

If they had the time, they'd have destroyed every single bot along the way - but there was no time whatsoever. Three minutes was all they had. With Makina leading, the two of them weaved their way down halls and through offline swarms of robots that would have killed them had they been active.

"Vhat's zhe fastest vay out?" Horst asked.

" _Fastest? Blow a hole through the walls. But you don't have a rocket launcher right?"_ Makina stared disdainfully at Horst's empty hands. " _I didn't think so. Front door it is. By the way, you don't happen to have a car right?"_

"Does it look like I drove here? If anyzhing, Herr Spy probably has a car. If ve can find him and he's not dead by now, you can ask him."

They made a beeline straight for the front door, shoving aside robots on the way out. The door was already in sight, and they made a last run for it, bursting out into the snowy outside.

"Can you contact zhe ozhers? Zhey should know we're okay," Horst said. He doubled over, catching his breath. "I'm getting too old for zhis," he muttered to himself.

Making walked ahead, sending Medibot a message. He could activate his tracking beacon, but it would also alert pretty much all other robots to his position. He let the message send, the words before his eyes blinking away.

" _If anything, we should get away from her as fast as possible. We'll head into the city and have the others catch up with us. No point staying around here."_ The robot began to walk, leaving Horst to catch up.

The Medic noticed the flat, rectangular footprints left in the snow by the robot, a small idea forming. He began to pace up and down in front of the factory, going rounds, forward and back. Making looked back to see if he was following, stopping when he realised he was not.

Making stared. " _What… are you doing?"_

Horst continued to pace up and down, finally stopping and admiring his work. He wasn't very much of an artist, but he was proud of the questionable design imprinted into the snow. Marina's eyes traced the design, before he realised what it was.

" _You are such a child,"_ the robot commented, unimpressed by the giant penis stomped into the snow that pointed at the factory. Horst snorted.

"I like to haff my fun. Now let's go."

They began to walk, Horst occasionally glancing back at his work of art and stifling laughs. They didn't get too far before someone called out to them. Looking back, Spy, Demoman, Pyro, Heavy, Engineer and Medibot were catching up.

"Jesus fuck, you guys are okay." None of them looked like they were faring too well. Scratches, bruises, and dried blood stained their bodies, and they didn't seem to have slept in at least two days.

"Ja, we're fine. At least you all are- vait. Vhere's Scout?" Horst was fast to pick up on the scrapper's missing presence. It was… too quiet. Spy almost immediately flipped up his hood and looked away.

The doctor's shoulders slumped. "I'll miss him," was all he could say without having Spy flare up at him. Medibot just stared at the white ground, still feeling a bit guilty for not being able to have saved the BLU.

Making stared at the group for a bit, before he turned away and kept walking towards the small town he knew was nearby. " _We can be sad later. Gray's still hunting us down so we can't stay in one place too long. There's a town nearby where we can hide for now. At least he can't launch a full-on assault on us there and it'll buy us a little more time."_

While everyone walked on, Heavy lagged behind with Spy, who seemed more than content to shove his hands in his pockets and keep staring at the ground as he walked, hood shading most of his facial features. For a moment Spy was either unaware of or ignoring the Russian's presence.

"Scout is good man," the BLU said, keeping his eyes fixed on the group of mercenaries walking ahead. Spy kept himself staring at the ground. "I hear from Engineer that he is not as loud as RED Scout."

Spy let out a small chuckle. "He was always a quiet boy. Never really grew out of it, non?"

Heavy nodded. "He spend evenings writing in book. Do not know what he write, but he write. Every day, before dinner, he write something. Some days he write before sleeping, some days he fall asleep while writing. When we get back to base, I give you book."

The assassin raised his head a little. For a moment he watched the mercenaries in front of him, dragging their tired feet, then his head dropped again. "Merci, Heavy. I… I appreciate it."

"Is no problem. You are blood related, you deserve to keep book."

Spy frowned, suddenly remembering he had never mentioned his relation to the Scout to Heavy. "How do you…?"

"Pyro guess. Then he tell me when I ask. Is not big secret, yes? If it is, Heavy will pretend to not know." He gave the smaller man a genuine smile, to which Spy felt a little warmed by.

"It's fine. No harm done. But if you tell anyone else, I will have to kill you. Oui?"

Heavy laughed. "As if you do not already kill me, Spy. Every day on battlefield, you always look for me and Doktor."

They managed to catch up with the group ahead of them as they slowed, entering the town. It was a decent place with people. Nothing fantastic, but it was something. Axel yawned. "If anything, can we just like, bunk somewhere? I'm dead tired."

"If ye were dead boyo, ye'd be dead," Demoman said, nudging the Pyro. "But I gotta agree with the lad, I need sleep." It was far past midnight already, the mercenaries all sporting dark eye circles, and the robots starting to run low on battery power. It was a silent mutual agreement that they would find somewhere to sleep.

It didn't take them ten minutes to find a small inn in a town that small. Outside it was a sign hanging, inviting people to come in and stay a night at cheap rates. Spy, having stolen a wallet from an oblivious drunk outside on the street, had a little more than enough to pay for all of them, tipping the pretty hostess as well.

While everyone filed upstairs to their rooms, Spy folded the brown faux leather wallet close and tucked it into his suit jacket. He lingered by the counter with the hostess, who eyed everyone else in the room with the two of them.

Spy pulled out a cigarette and lit it, clipping the cigarette between his thin lips. "You know, madame, I am curious as to why you did not question seven rumpled men and two robots coming into your little inn," he said, tapping off the ash at the end of the cigarette into the glass cigarette tray on the counter.

The brunette smiled, her eyes looking brighter than any of the mercenaries, despite the late hour. "Oh believe me, I've had weirder. Town like this attracts all the weirdos like mosquitos to a light. So what brings you here? You don't seem like a local." Spy made a note of the drunk at the back table.

He took a puff of the cigarette, enjoying how it warmed him. "I work around the area."

"Oh? And what kind of work? I can't think of many jobs that would warrant wearing a… ski mask."

"I'm in the excavation and demolitions line. Small accident resulted in this," Spy said simply. It was the same lie he told everyone who didn't know better. It made them stop asking questions.

"Oh… oh I'm so sorry. I… probably shouldn't disturb you anymore. Sorry," she apologised, quickly busying herself with clearing off the drunk man's drinks. Spy watched her for a bit more, before he turned to the stairs.

He quickly made for his room, which he found himself to be sharing with Engineer and Pyro. Axel was drying his matted hair with a towel. Spy made note of the tattoos that marked his left arm.

"Where's Engineer?" He asked, taking off his suit jacket and hanging it up on an empty hanger in the cupboard.

Axel gestured to the bathroom, which was closed and locked. "Bathroom." The Pyro was out of his suit, having left it on the chair. He was just in his inner clothes, which comprised of a simple red shirt and shorts. "Doc and Heavy went out to buy us all new clothes. I told them to get you a hoodie and jeans."

Spy scowled. "You did not tell them that." While he agreed that it was a good idea to get new clothes, he was not wearing… a hoodie and _jeans._

Axel laughed, falling back onto the bed with a snort. "I'm kidding, but you should have seen the look on your face. Nah, I told them to get you a suit. I don't think they have something in red though, so I said black was the next best option."

Spy relaxed a bit. "Wait, they don't have money."

"Money? Man, if you even seen how many drunks are passed out on the street? They can literally pick up three wallets and have enough money to last a week." The Pyro stretched out on the bed, all his muscles relaxing.

Spy began to loosen his tie, hanging it all with his suit. He was just getting to unbuttoning his undershirt to take a bath when the door of the room knocked.

"Who's that?" He called out, tempted to take his revolver to the door with him. It never hurt to be cautious.

"Room service!" It sounded like the lady from the counter downstairs. To be safe, Spy took the gun with him nonetheless, keeping it in his hand behind the door in case he needed it. Axel sat up in bed, staring at the door.

Cautiously, the Frenchman opened the door, greeted by the brunette. She quickly glanced around the room past him, as if she was checking something, before she slipped a phone into his hand. "She said to call her," the woman said, before she retreated back out. leaving Spy standing there.

He didn't stop her from going. Looking at the black phone in his hand, he closed the door and went back into the room, where Axel stared at him with one raised eyebrow, the only noise from the shower.

"Uh… who was that? Room service? You don't seem like the kind to ask for room service," Axel commented, his eyes flicking to the phone.

"Call… her?" Spy muttered. He sat down on the edge of the bed, opening the phone. On the screen was a number, already typed in. Spy was one for remembering contact numbers. He didn't like writing anything down if he didn't have to. The less things he had on paper, the less likely he would accidentally leaving some important information behind - not that it ever happened, of course. The number of the screen however, was not something he recognised.

Axel peeked at the screen over the Frenchman's shoulder, making the slimmer man shy away. "Do you mind…?" He scowled. Axel retreated from his personal space.

In his mind Spy ran through all the possibilities calling the number on the screen could bring. It could be an ally, it could be an activator for something, it could be someone trying to track their locations. As he clicked the call button, Heavy and Horst marched in with clothes.

"As promised, a suit for Herr Spy, overalls and work pants for Herr Engineer, and jeans and a hoodie for Herr Pyro," Horst announced, dumping down three bags of clothes by the foot of the bed. He noticed Spy on the phone, still waiting in silence for whoever to pick up. He gave the two of them a nod, before retreating out of the room.

Axel got off the bed to pass Engineer the clothes, while Spy waited, a frown forming on his brow.

Finally, someone picked up.

Spy waited in silence for the other person to speak, so he could try to identify the voice. "Spy?"

He froze. Miss Pauling. "Miss Pauling?"

"Oh thank God. Okay, okay. How many of you are alive?" Miss Pauling asked. She sounded distressed, like something had gone very wrong. It made him a little concerned.

"All of us, except Scout. Miss Pauling, are you okay?" Spy asked in return. If she was not, he was out of here.

Miss Pauling took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. "A lot has happened since you left. Gray took the opportunity to attack the base, with so many of you gone. The Administrator disappeared, all the other mercenaries are dead and… it's just chaos. I need you and the others to return to Teufort as soon as possible. It won't be long before Gray realises I'm still alive and hunts me down. Come back now."

As she rattled on and on, Spy found himself losing track of her words. He shook his head, trying to clear his head and focus. He could almost see it. Both bases crumbled, on fire, dead mercenaries lying on the ground in a pool of their own blood, their limbs bent at all the wrong angles and snapped off, robots swarming the bases and tearing apart anything in their way, and a terrified Miss Pauling hiding out somewhere.

"Spy?" Miss Pauling called, afraid that he had cut off.

"I'm here. Okay, how much time do you have, approximately?" He had to focus now.

"I… I honestly don't know. Less than 24 hours, give or take. Just come back now. I have to go." Spy didn't get another word in before Miss Pauling hung up. He stared at the phone with wide eyes, but didn't try to call her again.

Engineer had come out of the bath, fitted in his new clothes. "It's comfortable, but it don't feel the same as my work clothes. Ah hell. Spy, the hell you looking so ghostly for?" He was unaware of his conversation with Miss Pauling.

He frowned, quickly pulling the new clothes out of the bag. If anything, he at least wanted to change into something newer. "Miss Pauling called. She's in trouble, everyone back at the base is dead. She wants us back there as soon as possible, which means we're leaving now. He quickly threw on the new undershirt, tying his tie as Engineer stared at him dumbly.

"Well if we gotta go, we gotta go. Gray doesn't just get to fuck around with Mann Co like that," Axel hissed. He put on the grey hoodie, rolling up the sleeves. "Get the others, we're out of here. Engie, go steal a car or something."

"And just how do you expect me to do that boy?" Engineer asked, still not quite wanting to believe the situation.

"I don't know, hot wire it! You're an engineer!" He took a moment in the bathroom to change into the jeans, before he was out of the door, banging on the doors of the other rooms.

He barged right into Heavy, Horst's room, where the Medic was already drifting off to sleep while Heavy read a book he'd found on the nightstand. Heavy frowned as Horst stirred, rolling over onto his side.

"Get up. We have to go now," Axel said, crossing the room to Horst's bed and shaking the Medic awake. "Hey Doc, get up. We're going."

"…Huh?" Horst slowly blinked open his eyes, irritated with having been woken up from his well deserved sleep. "Zhis better be good Herr, I haff half a mind to stab you right now," he hissed, rubbing his eyes.

Heavy nodded. "Da. What is so important that we must leave now?"

"Miss Pauling called, and she's basically in lots of trouble. Our bases got destroyed. By Gray, and his bastard bots. Now if that's not enough to get you going, I don't know what it." Axel left them to slowly register what he'd said as he went to wake Demoman - who hopefully had not passed out - up.

The words took a moment to click with Horst, but when they finally did, he was out of bed without complaint. By the time he was dressed and out of the door, Makina and Medibot had managed to drag a sleeping Demoman out of the room, and the rest were downstairs.

"Leaving so soon?" The brunette asked, as the men and robots filed out of the door. Spy hung behind to answer her question.

"Unfortunately, our boss decided to call off our break early. Thank you, for passing me that phone." He had deleted all chat logs and factory wiped the phone to it's original state, and now he handed it back to her. She stared at it.

"I would have liked to get to know you," she said, her hand lingering on his. Spy look at her slender hand for a moment, before he raised it to his lips to lightly kiss it, like every French gentleman would do.

He released her hand. "I would have liked it too, but as it is I must go. Oh, wait." He noticed a set of car keys sitting on a purse that looked like it would have belonged to her. "By any chance do you have a car?"

She looked down at the silver keys. "Yes… why?"

"Can I borrow it?"

Axel stared at the closed inn door. "What the hell is taking Spy so damn long? And here he was the one to tell us we had to go now." The mercenaries had been standing outside, ready to go when they had realised the assassin wasn't with them.

A white car pulled up alongside the road, the door opening. Spy was inside. "Sorry, I was trying to get us a ride. Get in."

The mercenaries filed in, cramming into the small car that should not have had to hold seven passengers, two of which were robots. It was an uncomfortable squeeze at the back, and Makina had resorted to lying in the boot while Heavy sat up front with Spy to free up room in the back.

Spy started up the car, taking it off down the road. He'd promised to return it to the lady some time around next week. He probably would just buy her a new car if he had to, seeing as how this one was driving right to hell.


	15. Chapter 15

The drive had been oddly longer than expected. Twice they had switched drivers, so now Makina sat up in the driver's seat while Medibot had volunteered himself for the boot, where he idled. In the back of the car, all the mercenaries slept in positions of varying discomfort.

Next to him Heavy snored, to which Makina thought was extremely loud and annoying, though he did not dare wake the Russian bear. Instead he drove in silence, keeping his eyes fixed on the road that had long since turned into a mere trail of dust with the occasional sprout of grass.

Initially no one had been keen to let Makina drive, since they didn't quite think he knew where Teufort was in the first place, until he admitted he'd been there more than he'd been invited to watch the mercenaries through the scope of his rifle. After switching seats, Engineer had retreated to the back of the dusty white car, where he squished himself in with the rest and went straight to sleep.

The robot drove on in silence, slowing down as the crumbled, smoking bases came into view. Some parts of it were still on fire, though the rain that beat down on the area were beginning to douse the flames.

He circled the 'borrowed' white car around the place once, twice, trying to find a place to enter. He found a small break in the fence, big enough to ram the car through. As the car jerked forward, the sleeping mercenaries woke up with a start, Spy hitting his head on the car roof.

They were fully awake as soon as they saw the chaos that was Teufort. Both bases had crumbled to the ground, loose debris, blood and oil filling the central sewage. Hardly anything was left standing, say for parts of each base, though which was which was hardly discernible, with smoke, ashes, blood and oil splattered over almost anything. Smoke rose into the dark air in plumes.

Horst felt a little relief knowing that the week before he'd left for Mannhattan he'd sent his cat Schnaps home to his wife. Slowly, the mercenaries pried themselves free from one another, tumbling out of the car and onto the wet, ashen ground.

Demoman looked around. "Ye know lads, it's a bit hard to believe that when we left only a few weeks ago this place looked nothing like this dump," he said.

Spy didn't mind his suit getting wet. "First things first, we have to find Miss Pauling. Medic, Pyro, Engineer, you come with me. The robots, Heavy and Demoman can take the BLU base." He had his revolver with him in case they ran into any robots left behind after the siege.

The mercenaries nodded, understanding what they had to do. From there, in the rain, they split up once more.

The four of them headed into the RED base, picking their way past bits of crumbled frames. All power was completely gone from the base, so Axel produced a little orb of light to help them find their way around the ruined base.

They kept their ears sharp for any sounds that could signal Miss Pauling's presence, though the only sounds was rain trickling down through gaps and into the base.

"If anything, we might check the infirmary. There's probably some supplies there, and it's the most protected area," Axel suggested. Spy nodded.

"Alright, you and Medic check up there, I will go to the resupply room. We'll meet back in twenty minutes," Spy said. He nodded to the two of them and headed back towards the resupply room, where they hoped if they didn't find Miss Pauling, would at least find some supplies. That left Horst and Axel to go up to the infirmary.

The infirmary was right at the heart of the base, protected on all sides. If anything was left untouched, it should be the infirmary. Axel led the way up into the dark medbay, where they found the door already pried open by what could have been a crowbar. A simple push had the door swinging open.

Carefully, they stepped into the medbay, the little orb acting as their only guide. Something clanged ahead, catching both their attentions. With no weapons on hand, they just had to make do.

Round the corner, they found the source of the noise. Miss Pauling was rummaging through the cupboards, the frazzled woman whipping around and firing a bullet at them the second she heard them.

The bullet missed the two of them by an inch, leaving them staring at a dishevelled Miss Pauling, with a smoking pistol in her trembling hands. It took her a moment to recognise the two mercenaries, and only then did she lower her gun.

"Oh my God," she whispered, stumbling towards them. Axel hugged the small woman, quietly thankful that any stray robots hadn't gotten to her in the time they'd taken to get to the base.

"You okay, Miss P?" Axel asked, finally releasing her. She was definitely a mess, her hair all over the place, the lens of one side of her glasses broken, and her dress torn at the edges and dirty all over.

"Yes yes, I'm fine- where's your mask?" Rarely had she ever seen the Pyro without his mask, or heard him speak clearly, though she recognised him immediately. Faces were hard to forget for her.

Axel looked away. "I uh… Gray took it. I still have this though," he said, showing her the white horned mask clipped to his belt. She sighed.

"And the rest? Are they okay?"

"Zhey vent to other parts of zhe area to look for you. Vhat happened, exactly?" Horst asked.

Miss Pauling swallowed hard, ignoring the fact that she was thirsty. "Apparently Gray never cared about any of you. He made it seem like he was throwing his toughest bots at us so we'd send our strongest mercenaries to fight him, which essentially left everywhere else vulnerable. I'm not saying the other mercenaries aren't tough… but with half of the mercenaries gone… it's hard to defend the entire place. While all of you were gone, he sent more bots here to attack."

"So… what does he want? I mean if he's not interested in us anymore then what is he going after? I thought he just wanted Mann Co gone but at this rate it doesn't seem like it anymore."

Miss Pauling sighed, making herself seem smaller than she ever had before. She took a breather, regaining whatever composure she had left, even in her messy hair and tattered clothing.

"I'm not entirely sure. You can only get so much information from a bunch of robots storming the area. But my guess is that he's looking to gain full control of Mann Co. It's a powerful company. More so than the rest of the munitions companies out there."

The three of them looked at each other for a bit, before deciding to get out instead of standing around in the dirty base. "Let's talk elsewhere. Axel, call zhe rest out," Horst ordered. The Pyro nodded and disappeared from sight, while the doctor led Miss Pauling out of the base.

The rain had hardly lightened up, large, fat droplets of water pattering down and damping out whatever little embers were left lit up. It looked like the apocalypse had just come through, with all the buildings blackened and crumbled and the sky almost as dark.

As soon as they stepped out into the open, they were drenched. Engineer and Spy had joined them in the rain as Axel ventured over to the opposite base to find the rest, leaving rippling puddles where he stepped. Engineer tipped his helmet to Miss Pauling, who was getting very much soaked, her hair dripping and her clothes plastered against her cold, slim body.

"Glad you're alright, Miss P," The Texan said.

Miss Pauling offered him a small but genuine smile through the strands of hair against her face. "Thank you Engineer. It's good to see you're fine too, after all that." She looked up at a few more figures coming through the rain, initially tense that it was robots. When she managed to make out Heavy and Demoman, she relaxed her shoulders and let out a breath she hadn't realised she'd been holding.

The two mercenaries were about to greet her when lightning struck overhead, leaving a momentary flash of extreme white, thunder following suit. It drowned out anything anyone said. Demoman looked up at the sky.

"Aye, we should probably leave before someone gets struck by lightning," Demoman commented. They all glanced back at the small white car, dirtied and marred. "Eh… we're not fitting back in that thing."

Miss Pauling's attention was caught by two little blue lights coming towards the group - no, make that two pairs of blue lights. She squinted, trying to get a better look. As the figures got nearer, they revealed themselves to be robots. Immediately she gasped, taking a step back and drawing her pistol.

"No, wait!" Axel was right behind the robots. "They're friendly."

Miss Pauling couldn't have been more bewildered. She kept her pistol raised initially, staring in disbelief at Axel and the two robots, who seemed pretty tame. They stared back with their cold, unblinking eyes, before the Sniperbot finally huffed. " _If you're not going to shoot us, put the gun down."_

Slowly and uncertainly, Miss Pauling did as she was told. How- how was a robot _this_ sentient? Was it a trick? A prototype? Were the mercenaries actually robot Spies? Horst grabbed her by the shoulders, steering her towards the dirty white car as she tried to comprehend the robots.

"We are _not_ fitting all in there again," Spy hissed after him, staying where he was despite his suit being entirely soaked.

Before Miss Pauling could get into the car, she remembered seeing Engineer's truck still there. "I think Engineer's truck is still working. It doesn't look greatly damaged or anything. You could try that. It's around the back of RED."

Engineer's hidden eyes lit up at the thought of his precious truck having been saved from destruction. Immediately the Texan was off, looking for the vehicle, while the rest waited around in the rain.

Miss Pauling fit in the back of the white car with Heavy, with Horst and Spy up front. The rest would have to take the truck, if Engineer found it. Sure enough, he came around with the old thing in no more than ten minutes. He rolled down the window, beckoning for the rest to get into the back. "Sorry it ain't no first class car or nothin', and it's runnin' low on gas but it'll take us far enough- er, where exactly are we going?"

" _Another base? One that hasn't been overrun by bots already?"_ Medibot suggested, " _I mean, ve vill need supplies and all of you new clothing - ve are not running headfirst into Gray like zhis."_ He gestured to himself, droplets of water running off his smooth metal surface and dripping onto the floor of the truck where a puddle was slowly forming.

Engineer stuck his head out of the window and waved at the car. He waited for the windows to roll down before speaking. "Hey Miss Pauling, any idea if there's a nearby base that hasn't been overrun?"

The woman in purple sank in her chair. If Gray was anything smart - and he was - he would have destroyed everything. But he had a plan to follow, and to clear off every single base that belonged to Mann Co would take too much time and too much manpower. Or robot power, rather.

"We can try Mountainlab. It's not too far, just two hours south of here. It's a small place so there isn't much, but hopefully Gray hasn't rolled over the place with a steamroller." She seemed to be trying to convince herself that something was still standing, but by the look on her usually professional face, it wasn't exactly working.

Horst looked back at her sad, defeated face. "Well, it's worth a shot ja? Even if there aren't supplies, at least we'll have somewhere to stay for now." Miss Pauling simply nodded, having no objections. As the car drove, she fell asleep in the back, lulled by the rocking of the car.

The two cars drove towards the southern base, located in the midst of a thin forest, surrounded by just enough trees to hide the place from anyone wandering by - not that any smart man _would_ come by the place. It came with relief when they found the base to still be standing, untouched by Gray's vicious robot army.

Miss Pauling woke up as the car stopped by the BLU base. Due to the nature of the wars that took place here, the RED base was a little more stocked, but it was hard to drive all the way in. They'd have to make do with walking. The secretary stepped out of the car, a little hope making its way back into her as she saw the undamaged base. "Perfect, this is really good. It's not stocked or anything since well, we didn't plan for any shifts to this base any time soon, but it should have the basics. We can even turn respond back on so if anything comes through here, at least we'll have that safety net."

They made their way into the deeper base, well sheltered and less run-down than BLU's. Engineer made his way to turn on the electricity and respawn, while the rest settled down.

"Okay, I'll be honest here. I've never felt more relieved to be in RED's base," Horst commented, nudging Axel. The Pyro smirked in return.

"Yeah, probably because all our bases are way better than yours. It's a fact." He got to pulling off his wet suit, tossing it aside. "I should have a spare somewhere…" He began to dig through the resupply locker, in hopes of finding another uniform. Engineer returned, a satisfied smile on his lips.

"Well, respawn's all up and runnin' real nice, so we can relax for a bit. Course that don't mean we can forget our problem. Gray's still runnin' about out there waiting for us to show our faces again." The Texan took a seat on the table, putting his hands on his knees. "We need an actual plan this time."

" _What we need isn't a plan first. It's firepower. You can have as good a plan as you can think of, but if you don't have weapons, you can't stop him. Ray's manufactured hundreds of thousand of robots. He's not afraid to lose a few. Unless you can somehow find him and take him down, firepower is number one. Oh, and I should mention his daughter, Olivia. She's just as insane, and if her father dies, she'll just finish what he started."_ Makina stared at all of them from his position up against a wall, leaning on one shoulder with his arms crossed. " _So where are you going to get enough guns to take down a few hundred thousand robots?"_

Spy smirked, tapping his finger thoughtfully against his chin. "We don't need to kill them. We just have to turn them against us. You, robot. Do you have access to a motherboard that all robots are uplinked to?"

" _I don't, but Doc probably does. Medibots are alerted to any robot who sends out a 'Medic required' system and are able to pinpoint the location of the robot who sent it out. So if anything, he's probably got an uplink to a motherboard."_

Medibot stared at Spy, who thoughtfully looked him up and down. "But can he control other bots?"

Makina shook his head. " _Only Gray can control robots. With access to a motherboard, the most you can do is scramble signals."_

"Hm. Scramble signals…" Spy took out his sapper, staring at it. "Scramble signals…" Engineer seemed to catch on, his eyes flicking between the sapper and Medibot.

"Y'know, I could always somehow integrate a sapper's functions into a robot. Basically make it a walking sapper. Can't quite figure out how I'd do it, but I bet I could. Just need a little time to figure it out is all," he offered.

"And if zhe Medibot has a sapper's functionality installed… he can scramble and shut down ozher robots," Horst finished. "I like it. It actually sounds possible."

"But sapper is not big enough to stop thousands of bots. One tiny sapper only, compared to giant hoard of robots. Even if whole robot becomes sapper, is still not enough," Heavy chipped in.

He was right. One robot, one mere robot, was not enough to shut down an entire hoard.

"We could always kidnap some robots, alter them, and send them back. If the bots aren't clever enough, they'd never notice, so long they don't look any different. Could work, if ye ask me," Demoman shrugged. "Of course, ye lads never ask for me opinion, because I'm always drunk."

Spy frowned. "I cannot believe I am saying this, but that's a pretty good idea. Engineer, is it possible?"

"Well if y'all got a blueprint of the bots, I sure could whip up somethin' in a few days tops."

" _I can ah, download zhe blueprints and project zhem for you? I vould print zhem out but ah, I'm not a printer,"_ Medibot offered. Engineer nodded.

"Sounds good. Alright boys, let's just get a good night's sleep, and we'll get to work tomorrow. Ain't gonna do us no good if we're all tuckered out."

The team slowly split up to find a spot to sleep, leaving the two robots and Miss Pauling to idle around. She left to take a short walk outside and collect her thoughts. She was standing in the cool evening air when Medibot joined her outside.

"Not with your friend?" Miss Pauling asked. She was not exactly one for company, feeling even weirder that she was sharing the company of a robot - Mann Co's most hated enemy.

Medibot clasped his hands together. " _Ah, no. He vent to recharge. My battery lasts a lot longer zhan his. I mean, I vas specially built to last. Him… not so much."_

"So what's it like, working under Gray? Certainly it feels something different, seeing as how you're… sentient."

" _Same zhing as vhat I imagine your mercenaries do. Day in day out, fight vhen ve're told, go home and wait to fight anozher day. Can't be zhat much different. Gray hardly orders me around - I'm only here for Herr Makina. Zhat vas pretty much the sole purpose of my existence. To protect and take care of Herr Makina. And now zhat I've come across your mercenaries, I suppose it is also to protect zhem. And you, since I've met you."_

Miss Pauling felt her cheeks warm up a little. "You're very quick to side with us, Mister…" She trained off, unsure how to address the robot.

" _Ah, you can just call me Medibot. Or vhatever you please, really."_

Makina had called him Doc, so she figured she'd do the same. "But why take sides with the mercenaries who have been killing your… kind, every single day?"

Medibot shrugged. " _I don't know. Herr Makina's intent was just to get your captured mercenaries - Pyro and Medic - to help himself get free from Gray. I just followed along. But now zhat Gray's also out for me, vell, I don't have any other choice, do I?"_

They lapsed into silence for a bit, staring out into the evening sky that was quickly turning dark. Medibot began to beep, the robot rolling back to look at himself. " _Ah, I'm starting to run low on battery. I'm going back inside. Stay safe, Frau. Good night."_ He headed back into the base after Miss Pauling bid him a good night as well, leaving her to stand out and watch the last rays of sunlight and to think about what would happen after they defeated Gray. If they defeated Gray.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: I AM ALIIIIIIVE.**

Come morning Engineer found himself waking up early, for a moment forgetting where he was. He sat up sharply, eyes darting around the room, before remembering they had moved down to Mountainlab to hide and prepare. He let out a yawn, rubbing an eye. Everyone else seemed to still be asleep, the two robots included - if what they were doing could be considered sleeping.

He stared at the two of them for a bit, considering if he should wake Medibot up and get the robot blueprints so he could get to work. When another yawn escaped him, he flopped back down onto the bench he had been lying on. Work could wait a little longer. If he woke anyone up, they'd probably punch him for depriving them of their well deserved sleep. it seemed everyone was finally sleeping well enough for once.

Well, everyone but Spy. The assassin was a light sleeper, and had woken up just before dawn. Now he stood outside in the cool, crisp morning air, smoking a cigarette as he watched the sun slowly peek over the horizon, painting the forest base in a wash of warm yellow. There was really no reason for him to be out here, but seeing as how the inside of the base was too stuffy for his liking he had gone outside for a smoke.

The air was cool with a light breeze carrying loose dust and leaves still wet with rain from the night before. Shining drops of rainwater remained on the waxy leaves in round droplets. He was a little more comfortable now, as compared to last night, now that he was dressed in a dry suit and had a decent amount of sleep. Of course, it didn't meant his worries were gone, no. If anything, he was chain smoking because now that he had had enough sleep, his head was clear enough to thinking about each and every one of his problems.

He took a deep drag of his cigarette, letting the smoke warm him. He made a mental list of everything that was a problem at the moment. Scout's death. Gray's plans. The fact that they were stranded in an almost-empty base, and hardly had enough weapons and ammunition to take down a growing army of robots. And he was running out of cigarettes.

The horror.

Closing back the silver case in his hand to keep himself from using the rest of his precious cigarettes, he tried to make the one he had last. Now that the sun was high enough to cast a warm light on the whole of the forest, he began to make his way back into the base, where everyone was still, unsurprisingly, sleeping.

He stared at them in disdain, before nudging Engineer awake. "Don't you have work to do?" He asked, staring at the smaller man.

Engineer sat up, waving Spy off. "Yeah yeah, I'm up. Just cause ya don't sleep in doesn't mean others don't either," he muttered. Spy was tempted to retaliate, but decided on keeping his mouth shut. Already he was for the most part sour about everything that had happened lately. He didn't need one more unnecessary problem piled on his plate.

Everyone else would get the luxury of sleeping in a little longer, since no one else had anything to work on in particular. Spy retreated, disappearing out into the outskirts of the base.

Engineer stood in front of the two offline bots, wondering how he was going to activate them. He leaned down, giving Medibot a small poke. When there was no response from the robot, he felt around for a switch of some kind, pulling open a panel in the robot's back. There he found only one switch, and experimentally flicked it.

As Medibot came to life, Engineer watched in satisfaction at having found out how to turn on the robot. The automated Medic stared straight ahead as he started up, only moving to stare at Engineer when he was fully booted. _"Yes Herr Engineer?"_

"Spy wants us to get to work. Ya got the blueprints?"

 _"Oh yes. I spent the night downloading zhem. Vhere do you want to vork?"_

The Texan looked around, realising that here he never had a proper workshop. "Well, there ain't no workshop here, so I guess just anywhere with enough space will do. Maybe just… well there's a space upstairs. Guess we could use that."

Medibot nodded, gesturing for the RED to lead the way. As they walked, Medibot prepared the blueprints he had downloaded, making system checks to ensure his projector was still functional.

The space upstairs was just a small room that led to a little sniper ledge outside. It wasn't the most inconspicuous nor the most well hidden area, but it was good enough for work. After all, they weren't expecting anyone to come interrupt them. Engineer pulled aside a bench. Today was just for studying schematics and sketching blueprints. Only once the design was finalised, would he request for some bots to be captured to be used.

Medibot projected the schematics he had onto a blank wall, hoping Engineer could see it well enough.

Without any proper paper for schematics, Engineer had to make do with what he had. Dang, now he wished he had considered setting up a workshop here, or at least stored some tools and items in his locker or something. With nothing but a pencil, he stared around the room. The cupboards that lined the grading walls looked light enough to push, so he began to move them around, leaving one whole wall empty, say for the vent that sat right above. Oh well, it wasn't like he was tall enough to use the space up there anyway.

He began to sketch on the wall, making rough notes by the sides in handwriting that was only legible to himself, studying the blueprints with care. If he worked hard enough, he could have a final prototype done by the end of the week.

" _So… zhis plan, do you honestly zhink it vill vork? I mean, I don't have anozher plan and all but… I can't help but doubt zhis one,"_ Medibot mused.

Engineer didn't let his eyes leave the rough sketches on the wall. "I'm pretty sure we're all doubting this plan one way or another, but what else we got? We just make do, I suppose. Besides, if we die then we'll at least have put up a damn good fight and Gray knows that. And," his eyes momentarily fell away to the floor, "if the Administrator is still alive, then somehow she'll find another group of mercenaries to fight."

 _"I wish I shared your sense of determination in zhis situation, Herr Engineer, I really do. But I honestly feel like we're all walking to out deaths, unless by some miracle one of your friends manages to find a supply of weapons somevhere. Just a thought though, isn't Saxton Hale your… boss?"_

"Yeah, why?"

" _Doesn't he have a whole weapons factory somewhere? Surely zhe weapons you use must have been manufactured… somewhere."_

Engineer continued to draw on the wall, taking a moment to ponder of the robot's words. "So, you're suggesting we go there?"

 _"It's an idea."_

The thought of having a factory full of brand new weapons - some prototypes even - was certainly one Engineer could hook on to. Only problem was getting there. No one knew where it was, and unless by some heavenly blessing, they could spend a good amount of time looking for the place.

"Hey Engineer?" Miss Pauling called from the floor below. "We're going out to hunt for something to eat, okay? We'll be back in an hour or so!" Her voice faded away, giving Engineer an idea.

Miss Pauling was a Mann Co associate - and a very close one at that. She probably knew where the factory was. He continued to scribble on the wall. When she got back, he could ask her about it.

Miss Pauling had taken Makina, Axel and Spy out to get food. There wasn't much but birds and the occasional rabbit around, but if they wanted to get by, that was what they were going to have to do with.

The three word mercenaries (and their equally as tough manager) now prowled through the nearby forest. Unfortunately, the only weapons they had were guns, and Axel's flaming hands, so they had to work fast. Once a single bullet was shot, everything else was sure to flee. Axel was silently glad for Makina's un-humanlike reflexes, which gave him a good advantage in shooting down birds as they were flying off.

Miss Pauling still felt slightly uncomfortable in the presence of the robot, who exhibited scarily human behaviour and emotion. Never in her life had she ever come across a robot like him and Medibot, and to be suddenly thrown into having to work with one was quite a shock to her. Of course, being the professional lady she was, she managed to keep her cool around him.

Spy had cloaked and wandered ahead with nothing but a knife in hand. If anything, he could probably kill a couple of rabbits without alerting anything else. That was, if he could even find a rabbit. The shallow forest seemed voice of pretty much any wildlife. If that was so, it seemed the group would have to move elsewhere as soon as possible, before anyone starved to death. It wouldn't really matter if anyone died her, with respawn to catch them, but it would be a great inconvenience in moving on with their plans.

There was something about the forest that made Makina feel pretty good. He would have said it was a Sniper's thing, but he remembered he was not a human sniper. He did not have the experiences of one, which he guessed was sometimes just prowling the woods on a hunt. Axel had told him stories of the RED Sniper, and what he'd do. Hunting deers was apparently one of them.

The trees whistled with birds too small to be worth a meal, the little creatures staring down carefully at the people below. A couple of them took flight as something shifted behind the trees, and Axel couldn't have been more glad to see a deer. A little guilt plagued him as he stared at the deer's innocent eyes. It didn't seem to notice the three- no, two of them, now that Miss Pauling had left to find smaller game.

Whatever little wind there was blew against the two mercenaries, keeping the deer unaware of them. It continued to graze, turning its back to them. Makina pulled the rifle from his back, lifting the scratched scope up to his eye. He waited patiently for the deer to lift its head up. Where possible, he wanted a nice, clean shot.

Axel, on the other hand, wasn't so patient. "The hell are we waiting for, it's right there," he hissed.

 _"Patience. I'm trying to get a clean shot."_

"If you ask me, it's standing still. Your shot can't get any cleaner than a target that doesn't fucking move."

 _"I'm not even asking you anyth-"_

They got a little too loud, and the deer's head shot up. It turned around to stare at them, eyes wide. For a split second none of them moved, before the deer was off. Makina scrambled to line up his shot. The bullet caught in its rear, but it only stumbled a bit before continuing to run from its attackers.

The two mercenaries began to give chase, stopping short when they found the deer posed awkwardly. Its head was slightly tilted up and it seemed to be struggling against something. Slowly, it sank to the ground, twitching a little, and Spy uncloaked, pulling his knife out of the deer's throat.

"Okay now that's just violent," Axel commented, staring at the dead deer.

Spy shrugged, wiping the blood on a leaf and tucking it back into his jacket. "Food is food. If you don't like it, you can just not eat it."

"Look, you can't even cook that without me and I'd like to see you ear raw deer." The two of them walked off arguing, leaving Makina to haul the deer back. The robot stared at it for awhile, before grabbing it by the legs and pulling it with him.

By the time the robot got back Miss Pauling and the rest had returned, the former carrying with her a decent sized rabbit. "It was a lucky kill, but at this point, anything's just pure luck already," she sighed, flopping the rabbit down on a makeshift table. She stared at the deer Makina brought in. "Well, now I've never in my life been more relieved to see a dead deer… that sounded odd."

Horst, Demoman and Heavy joined them, Engineer still sketching on the walls upstairs. Heavy began to expertly strip the rabbit's fur off. "Not to be rude, Heavy, but vhere did you learn to do zhat?" Horst asked, watching him cleverly strip the fur off the rabbit with nothing but a knife that looked all too small in his hands.

Heavy chuckled a little. "In Russia, I stripped bears for dinner. Is only matter of time before these things become natural. Is easy now, after practice. Doktor want to try?" He extended the half-furry rabbit to the doctor, making him shy away a little.

"Ahah, nein, danke. I'm a little too fond of animals to… want to do that." He pulled his eyes away from the rabbit, finding himself looking at Axel standing and getting ready to chop up the deer with his axe. The Pyro became aware of the stares he was getting, raising an eyebrow.

"Queasy, doc?" Axel teased, positioning the axe. Horst narrowed his eyes a little. Back in the days of BLU being a whole, Sniper would chop live chickens bought from the nearby town with a farm. He'd hear their terrified screeching from his office, but had never actually seen it happen, so he ate without guilt. But now looking at Axel cutting the deer apart with a bloodstained axe… yeah, he was feeling pretty queasy about it.

He got up to excuse himself from the room for a bit. If he was going to eat the deer, he would rather not watch Axel tear it to bits. The doctor headed up to Engineer's makeshift workspace, where he found the tinkerer and his impromptu projector.

The pale walls were filling up with drawing after drawing, barely legible handwriting by sketches, frustrated scribbles blacking out certain words and sketches. The pencil in Engineer's hand was pretty short now, with rough pencil shavings all over the floor and a knife on the bench. The sketches only reached up to a certain height on the wall, which, to a tall man like Horst, wasn't that high at all.

"Do you mind if I join you?" Horst asked. He took Engineer's grunt as an okay for him to come in, offering Medibot a nod of greeting.

It wasn't two minutes of the doctor being in the room that Engineer frustratedly stepped away from the wall, rubbing his hands across his face. "Darnit darnit darnit…" He muttered.

"Are you okay?" Horst asked, taking a sweeping glance at the many sketches on the wall again.

Engineer sat down on the bench, looking at the projected blueprints. "I'm alright, but this is a lot more difficult than I expected. Without actually having a robot in my hands to tinker with and the proper tools. It's still possible, to get something that works… but it's gonna take a lot more time at the rate this is goin'." He paused for a while to wipe at his face again. "Say Doc, you know where the Mann Co weaponry is by any chance?"

Horst was a little surprised by the question, for some reason he couldn't seen to place. "Uh, no? Vhy asking?"

"Darn… okay, never mind. I'll explain later when Miss Paulin's around so I don't gotta say it twice."

The smell of roasted meat had the two mercenaries leaving the makeshift workshop an hour later, where they found the team sitting around roasted deer. It had been cut up to the point where now cooked, they couldn't even tell it was deer. The rabbit had also been cooked alongside the deer.

"It ain't as good as me ma's cookin'," Demoman complained as he took a bit into the plain deer.

"I'm surprised you even know what taste is," Spy shot back nonchalantly, elegantly tearing the meat in his hands into thinner shreds before eating. Miss Pauling, next to him, was just devouring the meat like she hadn't eaten in a few days. Then again… she probably hadn't had much to begin with.

The team lapsed into silence for awhile as they all ate, mostly trying to swallow the bland meat. The two robots idled in silence in a corner, away from the team. Engineer waited until Miss Pauling seemed content enough before he raised his nagging question.

"Miss Pauling?"

The woman looked up from her share of meat, her face reminding Engineer something of a cat guarding its prey. "Mm?"

"Any chance ya know where the Mann Co weapons factory is?" The rest of the team stared at him for a moment, waiting for the link between the question and his unknown intention to click.

"Yes I do, why?" The idea suddenly hit her. "Oh… if you were thinking of going there well… it's not as easy as just walking right in, you know. There's a lot of security to pass through, and only Saxton Hale can get past them. Without him it's basically impossible to get in, and no one knows where he went."

Everyone returned to eating, dismissing the idea as one that wouldn't work. But Engineer persisted. "I don't mean to be rude, Miss Pauling but, you do realise we're the world's deadliest men right? If anything I'm sure we can break in… somehow."

"Mm, and that somehow is?" Axel asked.

"Boy, you're lookin' at a man with eleven PHDs, and you yourself can shoot fire from your own hands, and you're sayin' ya can't break open a door?"

"Oh, it's not _just_ a door. It's a lot more than that - what do you think Saxton Hale spends his money on?" Miss Pauling asked.

"Well, I-"

"But you're right. You guys are the world's deadliest men, which mean there is a way… even if it means blowing a hole through a wall to get in. Side note, we're not doing that." An elated grin fell away from Demoman's face and he returned to darkly eating the deer, muttering something about how 'explosives were always a solution'. "We can figure it all out when we get there, but the problem _is_ getting there. It's not here in the States."

"Then… vhere is it?" Horst asked.

"It's in Australia."


	17. Chapter 17

Now that a somewhat-decent plan was in place, the road to successfully taking Gray down seemed a little easier. Well, more like _very marginally_ easier, but a little bit of progress meant a lot.

All they had to do now was to figure out how the hell they were going to get on a plane to Australia. Or rather, how they were going to get two robots on a plane to Australia.

"Can we bribe them?" Axel asked. "I mean like we have a lot of extra cash from the robots, could we bribe the airline to let them board?"

"Axel, I do not zhink you can _bribe_ an entire airline. Ve are not made of money. Vhatever ve have is probably going to go into getting us tickets in zhe first place."

"I don't see you coming up with ideas, old man."

"I AM NOT ZHAT OLD!"

"Guys! Please, seriously," Miss Pauling huffed. She swore sometimes she was really babysitting instead of being a secretary. Guess the Administrator never wrote the truth of her job description.

The team sat in a rough circle, trying to toss ideas back and forth about getting to Australia. There was a lot more to think about, like how to bypass security and get into the weapons factory, but there wouldn't be a point if they couldn't get to Australia in the first place.

Frustratedly scratching her arm, Miss Pauling began to try think about all her options.

There was the obvious option of trying to smuggle the robots through security (and Miss Pauling was sure Spy could do it one way or another), Heavy had suggested hijacking a plane, Axel mentioned bribing security, and well... that was it. None of those plans seemed incredibly bright.

"I guess we could hijack a plane... I mean you're all mercenaries and I bet Spy can fly the plane, but even getting to the airfield will be difficult," Miss Pauling mused.

"Do you not have any associates?" Spy chipped in. He had refused to sit on the floor and made his place sitting on a table he had dusted off instead, legs elegantly crossed. Typical.

"For the most part they're gone. Hale went missing, the Administrator may as well have vanished off the face of the earth. I don't exactly have any other trusty contacts."

"Vell vhat about Hale's own assistants? Zhe two gentlemen who vork at his office?" Horst asked.

 _"Those guys? Oh yeah, I saw them before. Bunch of boot licking guys."_

Miss Pauling's eyes lit up in delight. "Oh! Yes, of course. Bidwell!" She sprang up from her place on the floor, hurrying to the phone that was installed in every base. The mercenaries stared after her.

Grabbing the phone off the receiver, she punched in the Bidwell's number, silently willing him to pick up as she held the phone to her ear.

A little bit of hope drained from her for every ring that wasn't answered, and just when she was about to put down the phone, someone picked up. "Hello, Bidwell speaking," came the static-filled voice.

Miss Pauling broke into a grin. "Hello Bidwell, Pauling here. Are you busy?"

"Oh, hello Pauling, I heard about what happened with your mercs. Are you alright? And why asking? I've been a bit too free since Mister Hale disappeared."

"Great, I'm fine yes. And uh, I have a small request. Do you have a plane?"

"Let me guess, you want me to fly you somewhere because you can't use a commercial airline for some reason?"

The mercenaries couldn't hear their conversation, but solely based on the look on Miss Pauling's face, they guessed they had a ride to Australia secured.

"Vell zhat vas easy," Horst commented, leaning back against the wall behind him. "I can't vait to get my hands on some proper weapons again. I'm done fighting vith my fists."

" _At least things are turning up from here, or at least seem to be. I wish I knew Gray's full plans."_ Makina was on the ground while Medibot tightened some loose screws back. The latter had been extremely quiet for most of the time, only occasionally asking a question or two. Truthfully he was full of doubt at the plan, but decided to just go along with it. After all, it wasn't like he had a better idea.

"I wouldn't count your chickens before they hatch," Spy commented, "there's a lot more to think about, and if we use this time here to plan, then we can at least get some shut eye while on the plane."

Demoman snorted. "Lad, I want in two seconds of sleep before some shite happens. Haven't had any alcohol lately, and it's driving me nuts." Spy made an effort not to say anything in return, even if he looked like he had a million things to say.

Miss Pauling came trotting back, the clacking of her heels capturing the attention of the mercenaries. "Vell?" Horst asked, eager to know if they had a plan in place or not. The wide grin on the secretary's face gave him a general idea of the answer they were going to get.

"Yes! Bidwell's flying over now, so he should pick us up by tomorrow morning at the latest. Then it's a one way trip straight to the factory. Only problem is it's in the middle of nowhere. There isn't a landing site near, so we'll have to land at a private airport first, and make our way there. That, or we can jump out of the plane."

"No offence, Miss Paulin', but I don't think a lot of us were made for… jumping out of planes." Engineer wasn't exactly on board with the idea, and by the looks of it, neither were Medibot, Horst or Heavy.

Miss Pauling shrugged. "It's an option, and we don't have a lot of time to travel on land. The sooner we get there, the better. Of course, that's only if Bidwell can even locate the factory from the air. He wouldn't drop us in the middle of nowhere."

No one had any comment to that, but distrust flitted across the faces of some. Miss Pauling huffed. "Trust me guys, I know Bidwell. Besides, have I ever lied to you?" Knowing looks rippled through, and no one agreed to Miss Pauling's questions. "Okay, so I lie every now and again about your jobs, but still. Bidwell's a good man."

Axel got up from his place on the floor. "Well if you guys are done here, I'm going to sleep." The Pyro left without another word, heading back into the mostly-empty resupply room to find a nice corner to sleep in while they waited for the promised plane to arrive. Spy elegantly got off the table as well, taking his leave to smoke outside. That left two REDs, two BLUs, two robots, and Miss Pauling.

Heavy sat in silence as well for awhile more, before deciding sleep sounded good. "If anyone needs, I will be sleeping. Do not need me." The bear of a man lumbered off, still visibly confused by the RED base, before disappearing into resupply as well. Demoman and Engineer stuck around for a bit longer, Engineer humming a low, unfamiliar tune, and Demoman admiring one of the grenades on his vest. That left Horst watching Medibot work with Makina, the Sniperbot having gone idle and trusting Medibot to do whatever he had to do.

"Herr, if zhis all vorks out and ve destroy Gray Industries… vhere are you going to go?" The Medic asked. Makina's eyes lit up again at the question, gears audibly whirring away as he processed an answer.

 _"_ _That's actually a pretty good question. I don't know. I never thought about it. I guess at some point or another I considered trying to join Mann Co., but that seems quite stupid now, and I don't think the old lady in purple likes us very much."_ He nodded his thanks to Medibot as the latter finished up, quietly retreating to a corner of the room. _"I guess that's something the Doc and I have to think about as well."_

Horst wasn't sure if he liked the idea of the robots joining them or not. He liked them a good bit enough not to want to kill them - after all, they had helped with their escape from Gray and seemed like a bunch of trusty robots, but there were a lot of things to think about. Would they participate in battles? Who's base would they stay at? Would the Administrator even approve of the idea in the first place?

 _"_ _But funny you should ask. I focused so much on getting out of the factory that I never even thought about where we would go. Away, I guess. That was all I considered. Just wherever Gray wasn't."_

Outside rain began to drizzle down in a fine spray, and Spy returned, his jacket and hood lightly dotted with wet spots. He ignored everyone in the room, passing them all without a second glance. _"Do you think he's okay?"_

"Who, Spy?" It was Engineer who spoke this time.

 _"_ _Yeah. He seemed pretty different from when we were in the docking bay. When Scout was still with us."_

"Ah, yeah, about that. He didn't tell me nothin' about him and Scout, but if ya ask Pyro, he might tell ya something. Back in RED they were pretty close. I can't tell you whether he's okay or not. But I wouldn't pressure him if I were ya. He don't take too kindly to bein' asked about his personal life." Engineer put his hands on his knees and stood up, popping a few joints. "Well, I'm headed to bed. Best we're up early tomorrow. Never know when the plane will come. Night y'all." A quiet chorus of good nights followed, and Engineer was gone. Demoman got up shortly after as well, mentioning something about needing sleep or a drink, before leaving.

Makina returned to idle mode, leaving Horst to rest, and Medibot in the corner. The latter started up again, rolling over from his corner. _"I zhink you know why Herr Spy vas so broken up,"_ he commented, coming to rest by the table. Horst looked up, crystal blue eyes confused for a moment.

"Vhy?"

 _"_ _If I interpreted correctly, zhey have some kind of relationship zhat's a little stronger zhan just meeting each ozher on zhe field. Perhaps familial ties, or a history of knowing each ozher. Or razher, Herr Spy knew Herr Scout, but not zhe ozher vay around. Herr Scout never seemed to treat Herr Spy anything more zhan just a teammate, while zhey vere vorking togezher."_ Guilt began to creep up his titanium spine as he remembered Spy's pleads for him to heal Scout. _"If anyzhing, it's my fault he's like zhis now."_

Horst cocked his head to one side. "How so?"

 _"_ _You veren't zhere, but Herr Spy asked me to heal him. If I had my Medigun I vould have done it… but I didn't. I had nozhing on me, and Herr Scout died. So ja, I kind of do feel like it's my fault."_ Subconsciously, Medibot began to rub one arm, unable to look at Horst in the eye. He expected the Medic to get angry, blame him for the loss of a teammate, but the yelling never came. Instead he was met with an even look, and perhaps… a hint of sympathy in Horst's eyes.

The doctor smiled a little. "Zhat's okay. Many times on zhe field I can't save mein teammates. Even if I vant to. Some people have to be sacrificed for ozhers. Of course, zhey respawn, but still. You get mein point. Besides, not everyzhing is your fault. And frankly speaking, I can't really imagine how confused you are now. Robots hardly feel guilt… but you seem to. Must be hard being exposed to such a complicated emotion such as guilt."

Medibot fell silent, unsure of how to reply to Horst. He had most certainly felt guilt before, but it had never hit so hard. It was a weird feeling that clawed at him, reminding him of all his mistakes, all his faults and flaws. _You're broken. Nothing but a malfunction._ " _Sometimes I vish I didn't know any of zhis."_

Horst let a yawn out, getting to his feet. "Vell, you're not alone. Zhere are plenty more emotions zhat I don't zhink you feel, and a lot of zhem can be very problematic. But Herr Scout's death vas not your fault. Okay?"

Medibot slowly nodded, trying to accept the statement. It still felt like his fault.

"Gute Nacht, Medibot."

 _"_ _Good night, Herr Medic."_

...

Bidwell found himself landing outside Mountainlab's compounds, since the arena itself was a little too crowded to land an airplane. Mountainlab was as quiet as ever, the grass damp with rain from the night before. Dawn had just begun to peek over the forest, providing him only minimal light to wander the compound with.

He was completely unfamiliar with any of Mann Co's territories, since he worked in Saxton Hale's office most of the time. Of course, that didn't make him shy away at seeing suspicious stains that could have been blood that never cleaned off properly. A lot of violence went on at the office, nothing he wasn't used to. Nonetheless he tried not to step on anything that looked like it might ruin his grey suit, picking his way through the unfamiliar area.

He almost thought he lost his way, until a man dressed in a sharp, black suit materialised behind him. Bidwell tried not to flinch, scowling at the man. "Who are you?" He asked.

"I could ask you the same thing, mon ami, except that I know who you are, Monsieur Bidwell." Spy pulled out his cigarette case, offering one of the tobacco sticks to Bidwell. The secretary politely declined.

"Right, so you know who I am. I'm assuming you're one of Mister Hale's mercenaries then."

"That would be correct, yes."

"Where's Miss Pauling?"

Spy brushed past him, walking on past one of the inactive control points before the RED base. Bidwell followed behind, slightly irritated that he was not given an answer. The base was dead quiet as well, and it made Bidwell wonder if he had landed at the right place. If one of Hale's mercenaries were here, it was the correct place, right?

Spy stopped by the final control point. "Wait here." The look he gave Bidwell was enough to make him stay, unsure of what Spy might do if he didn't listen. The hooded assassin disappeared into the resupply room, where some conversation between multiple people started up, and not long after, was greeted by Miss Pauling herself, and what few mercenaries she had left.

"Bidwell!" Miss Pauling was tempted to hug him, but she had to remain a professional, especially when around her mercenaries. "So glad you're here. Where's the plane?"

"It's outside the compound. Couldn't exactly find a place to land inside, seeing as how small this whole place is. And I guess these are your mercenaries? When did Mann Co start hiring robots?" He eyed Makina and Medibot suspiciously, knowing who they belonged to. Gray Industries had bothered Hale a few times already, although the Australian never had much of an issue bashing up robots on his way out the door. Bidwell never bothered crossing one of them before, even preferring to take longer routes out if he had to just to avoid robots when Gray brought them to see Saxton Hale.

"Oh them? They're friendly. Or at least have been." Miss Pauling only added the last bit in a hushed tone, hoping the two of them didn't catch on. It was a little hard to trust some robots, especially when they came from the man who was trying to kill them.

Deciding not to push anymore about the robots, Bidwell turned around and began to leave. "Well the sooner we leave, the sooner we can get to the factory. I hope you have some way of getting in, because not even Mister Hale lets me in. But what I do know is all the things you need to bypass. I'll explain on the flight."

The mercenaries loaded onto the small jet, big enough to just fit them all. It wasn't any fancy plane or anything, but it had seats comfortable enough for most of the men to fall asleep in instantly. Miss Pauling stared at them as Bidwell prepared the plane for flight, before heading into the cockpit. She had to grab onto the co-pilot seat as Bidwell took off without notice, pulling herself into the chair. Bidwell offered her an amused side smile, relaxing into his chair as the plane climbed to cruising altitude.

"Right, okay." Miss Pauling straightened up in her chair, suddenly aware of how messy she must have looked. In comparison to Bidwell's sharp, ironed grey suit that looked like it was completely new, her purple dress was a little torn at the edges, and very, very dirty. "So, what are the things we have to bypass?"

"For starters you have to get into Mister Hale's office, but I can help you with that. Then there's- wait, are we trying to get into any of Mann Co's normal factories? Because I feel like as if I'm not telling you the right things."

Mann Co had factories other than normal? "Uh… I guess?"

Bidwell chuckled. "Oh, those are ridiculously easy to get into. You walk right in. But I feel as if where you're going, you might need more than whatever ordinary weapons we're already selling you. I'm talking prototypes. The mot expensive guns Mann Co ever made. Getting to _those_ aren't easy."

"So… how do I get it?"

"At Mister Hale's office, there's a door that needs authentication. And not something as easy to get as DNA. It's a sensor that requires at least two-point-five thousand pounds of pressure per square inch applied. That's the kind of force Mister Hale can apply with one punch, even when he's not trying. So unless you or one of your mercenaries can punch that hard, that's going to be quite hard to pass. Maybe the big guy can do it."

Miss Pauling was a little more doubtful that Heavy could punch that hard.

"I don't even know what's behind there, since he only lets the really rich people in there. By rich, I mean trillionaires. Top mercenaries in the world. Don't tell your mercs I said that, I'm just quoting Mister Hale. I'm quote sure beyond that one door there's a few more, including DNA scanners and voice recognition and retina scanners." Bidwell seemed extremely relaxed about it all, though Miss Pauling was getting more and more stressed out by the moment, considering how they were going to get past all that security. There was always the option of just going back to any other factory, but she seemed to trust Bidwell when he said they were going to really need more than whatever normal weapons the mercenaries used on a daily basis.

"I'm sure you'll think of something though. Your mercenaries may not be the top of the world, but they're definitely something."

Miss Pauling was sure she had zoned out at some point and missed some things Bidwell had said, but didn't bother to ask. "Oh, thanks Bidwell." With nothing else to say, they went silent for the rest of the ride, Miss Pauling leaving Bidwell to fly the plane, and her returning to the cabin to make sure none of the mercenaries had pushed each other out of the plane.

Some several good hours later the plane descended in Saxton Hale's personal airport. There were multiple planes, some seemingly encased in gold just for show. The mercenaries woke up, glad for the long rest.

"Can the robots wait? This chair is way too comfortable to get up from," Axel complained. He was sprawled out across three chairs, and given the chance, would go straight back to sleep.

"Can ve put zhis to a vote? All in favour of staying in zheir chairs, say I."

The cabin chorused with agreement, the mercenaries all unwilling to actually get back to work. Miss Pauling didn't let them do it, of course. "No way guys. Robots first. Think about all the things you can do after we take down Gray. You'll actually get your jobs back. With mandated ceasefire days. Huh?" With some complaint, she successfully got the mercenaries out of the plane.

Saxton Hale's office building stood tall and majestic against the rest of the plain, cloudless, Australian sky. It was a huge shining tower of glass and metal, with nothing but a plain blue sky behind it, and rich, earthy tones below. It was quite impressive, if not out of place. Everyone except Bidwell stopped for a moment to gape in awe at it. Hale's secretary just walked on, pausing only to look back to see if anyone was actually following him.

Once everyone was gathered close enough to the door, Bidwell pushed open the doors to the lobby, revealing a fairly grand place. The walls were decorated with a fine wallpaper, the floor made of parquet. There were decorations all along the walls, and a comfy couch and coffee table by the side.

"Ah, I wouldn't sit on those if I were you," Bidwell reminded, just before Demoman could throw himself onto the couch. "Mister Hale installed them with trapdoors under the cushions, since no one who visits his office is ever expected to _lounge_ around. So unless you fancy pulling yourself out of a ten foot hole, I wouldn't sit on that." Demoman gave the comfy looking chair a disgusted look, before following the rest of the group.

The mercenaries couldn't help but feel incredibly out of place. Amongst the well decorated walls, fine furniture and carpeted floor, they were just a bunch of ragtag mercenaries, mostly dressed in civilian-like clothing they had picked up from the town several days back. Most of them had never seen a place this fancy.

Bidwell took them in a lift up to the top floor, where Saxton Hale's office was. The door was plain glass, very easily broken through, but Bidwell nonetheless put his palm up to the scanner by the door. The glass doors slid open after accepting Bidwell's handprint, granting them access to the office.

For the most part the office was plain, just like Gray's had been. There was a large, fine chair behind a desk with a metal finish, that Bidwell mentioned also doubled as a grill for Saxton Hale's morning steaks. On the left a yeti stood, its body stiff, jaws apart in a menacing growl, and claws poised in the air, as if ready to strike. The rest of the wall was lined with a multitude of wild, stuffed animals, all of the murderous variety. The only conformation that it was dead was its stone cold eyes, frozen on something that couldn't quite be seen.

"Well, this is it. That's as far as I can take you, since I for one know I can't punch hard enough to make the system think I'm Mister Hale himself. I'll be around if you need me." He offered the group a nod, before turning to take his leave. Pausing by the glass door for a moment, he looked back. "Oh, and you only get one try on the punch. If it doesn't register it's Mister Hale the first time, it'll inform the police. Not that I think the police can stop you, but just something to think about, eh?"

"Thanks a lot Bidwell. Really, we'd probably still be stuck in Mountainlab if it weren't for you." Miss Pauling wish he'd stuck around a little more, but she had something to focus on, and he probably had things to do as well. A grateful little smile crept onto her lips.

Bidwell returned the smile. "Don't mention it. And give me a call if you ever need me. I'll be around." Miss Pauling only looked back to the pressure sensor after the glass doors slid shut once more and Bidwell was out of sight. She looked back in time to see Heavy getting ready to punch the sensor.

"Hey wait! Heavy stop!" She realised she hadn't told any of them what Bidwell had told her in the cockpit. Heavy stared at her, lowering his fist.

"Something wrong?" He asked.

She leaned down to scrutinise the sensor. "None of you can _actually_ punch hard enough to produce two-point-five thousand pounds of pressure per square inch, right?"

" _Whoa whoa, two-point-five thousand pounds? That crazy beefcake actually punches that hard?"_ Makina repeated. " _Well if that's the case, we're better off just blowing up the door. Or the entire level. Heck, we may as well blow up the whole damn building and take whatever falls out of it."_

Miss Pauling rubbed her chin for a bit. "Well, two-point-five thousand is two-point-five thousand. No changing that. Maybe Engineer can alter it down to… I don't know. Five? Five pounds?"

"Nothin' without rippin' off the whole wall ta start with," Engineer mused. "There don't seem to be any screw or what that goes to a configuration panel or nothin'. Unless yeah, ya don't mind me rippin' up the entire wall."

"Oh believe me, she vouldn't mind, but a certain Australian might. And zhat is not a man ve vant on our tails."

While they stared at the wall, Medibot rolled away to a pedastel. He shifted the ornate looking vase on it away, lifting up the entire pedastel with a grunt.

 _"Maybe ah, ve can use zhis? As a battling ram or somezhing. It's certainly heavy enough,"_ He offered. Struggling to keep his balance while holding the pedestal, he rolled back to the group. Heavy eyed it.

"Does anyone else have ideas?" The Russian hauled the white block into his hands. "Nyet? Okay. Stand back."

He took a second to position the impromptu battling ram, pulling back and giving it a good swing with all his strength. As soon as the pedestal connected with the sensor, it cracked and crumbled, giving way under the tremendous force.

They waited in tense silence for the sensor to read out the pressure applied. An electronic voice crackled from the speaker. _"Two four seven nine pounds of pressure per square inch. You are not Saxton Hale. Informing the police."_

 _"_ _Well that's stupid,"_ Makina hissed. " _And now the police are probably on their way here so… can we just pry the door open? It doesn't look all that thick."_

Sirens began to sound outside, the soft wailing just barely audible from the top floor. Spy leaned towards the window, peering out at the cop cars below. "That was fast. I'm impressed at their response time. Someone get that door open, or I'm going to have to stab someone. Or a lot of someones."

Bidwell appeared at the door open, looking only sightly annoyed at the appearance of the police. "That didn't go so well." He had a pistol in his hand, though he didn't seem like he wanted to use it. "They'll probably be up here in at the most, five minutes. If they're willing to break down the door, though I'm quite sure Mister Hale will be more than willing to break their necks in return. Might want to work faster."

Heavy ran his hand along the wall, trying to find where the door actually was. It was perfectly smooth, no lines showing where the wall would slide away. Behind them, the elevator pinged, and out popped several policemen, guns raised. None of them seemed particularly threatening. The team relaxed a little upon seeing how scrawny the policemen were in comparison to themselves. Not the huge Australians anyone was expecting.

Axel cracked his knuckles, grinning. "Someone pop the door open. I'm gonna beat the crap out of these guys." With no further warning to anyone in the room, he tossed a nice ball of flames towards the wall. He didn't quite intend for it to hit anyone, but if anyone went up in flames then… oh well. The wall burst into flames, terrified men jumping aside to avoid their deaths.

While the rest of them fled, shaken by what they had just witnessed, one of the policemen remained frozen where he was, fire licking away at the wall behind him and threatening to consume him too if he didn't get moving. Axel stalked up to him, noticing his eyes locked onto his flaming hands. Extinguishing the flames, he grabbed him by the collar, pulling his face close. "You didn't see anything, okay?" His answer was a violent nodding, and Axel let him go, the man scrambling away.

"That was entertaining. Now let's give that pressure sensor another shot before this entire room burns down."

Heavy hefted up the more solid-looking part of the pedestal, a frown forming on his face as he reared back again, swinging the dusty not-so-white block at the sensor again with all the strength he could muster. The voice that read out the results of the "punch" was barely audible over the crackle of fire slowly inching towards them, and the thunder of the hit. They must have been successful, for the door slid open. The mercenaries filed in, and it closed once more, completely invisible from the outside.

The room inside was beautiful. The floor was made of freshly polished marble, the walls decorated with red banners and pillars with ornate carvings on their surfaces. Fancy chandeliers of glass hung from the ceiling, and all around the room were statues of men and women, holding very, very fancy weaponry.

The mercenaries were in heaven, Bidwell and Miss Pauling included. "Well, this isn't quite what I expected." Demoman darted straight for a glass table where several bottles of expensive wine stood. Completely ignoring the thin, tall glasses that stood next to the bottles, the demolitions expert grabbed three bottles all at once and chugged it all down. Spy stared at him in disgust, heading straight for a beautiful revolver held by a faceless statue.

Each weapon was beautifully designed and carefully made, as if they were only meant for display and never for use. How the mercenaries handled them, of course, showed that none of them really seemed to care. Miss Pauling began to scribble on a notepad she had in her pocket, leaving them on the tables where a precious weapon used to lay.

"Are you okay with this? With us just taking the weapons?" Miss Pauling asked. Bidwell just watched the mercenaries rob the entire place, leaving nothing behind.

Seeing the mercenaries so happy with their new, better arsenal of weapons, Bidwell had to just shrug. "It's not like as if I can do anything, and Mister Hale won't be needing these any time soon anyway."

"Come on guys, we don't have all day. Just grab everything you need and let's go. Gray might be on our tails already." The mercenaries had taken everything, leaving behind nothing but some handwritten notes by Miss Pauling stating how much money she owed. Saxton Hale was not going to be happy when he found out, so hopefully the ownership of Gray Industries would be enough to have the Australian lay off.

...

A frustrated Gray sat at his table, flipping through a book of contacts. People who owed him favours, mostly, for the money he loaned them. "A whole army of robots couldn't stop them. But I blame myself, because I made them. And I completely forgot that darn Medibot has the key code to activating the other two. So if I can't stop them with my robots, then I suppose I will have to hire someone with actual strategy to do it."

He was mostly talking to himself, for Olivia was only half listening. The rest of the girl's attention was used for looking out of the window and into the stretch of pine trees behind the factory. At what, exactly, she wasn't sure.

Scanning through the thick book once more, Gray settled on a page where one of the contacts written on it had many notes at the side, detailing the success rate and professionalism of that one assassin. All he needed was for the two robots to be brought back to the factory - no, one, actually. Makina was no longer of use anymore. Damn the mercenaries to hell.

Picking up the phone on his scratched and bloodied desk, Gray punched in the number he had scrawled down. The phone didn't even have to ring twice before someone picked up. There was no voice, expecting Gray to speak first. "Yes, it's time I called you in for that favour."

"…Speak."

"Six mercenaries, with two robots. I want the robots alive, mercenaries dead. Or you can make them your torture dolls for awhile, they can take quite a bit. Take your time. I'll send pictures soo-"

"Done. Pictures not needed." That was it. The phone went dead, and Gray put down the receiver.

It was time to get to business.


	18. Chapter 18

It was not that Miss Pauling could not trust her mercenaries to find Gray before he found them but...

Miss Pauling could not trust her mercenaries to find Gray before he found them.

"We're just what, ten people? Ten people, against a whole army of robots. Tireless robots, that can hunt us for days on end. I'm not trying to undermine your skills or anything guys, but really. Just really. Think about it." The eight mercenaries, along with Miss Pauling and Bidwell had since left the burning Mann Co headquarters with their new weaponry and were headed to any old factory to get suited up again. She utterly refused to let them walk into battle in clothing that looked very much like it was bought from a garage sale - their Medic was wearing a T-shirt and pants, for crying out loud. If they were walking to their deaths, she at least wanted _some_ form of dignity.

"I'm really sorry, Frau, but ve are trying to be optimistic here, ja? And you aren't quite helping. I mean, ve are probably valking straight to our graves, but no need to be constantly reminded." Bidwell led them straight to one of the nearest common factories, which had only been half a mile away. It was completely dark inside, though from the outside, it was a large grey block of cement, with few windows to provide anyone inside with air. Not that Mann Co ever thought their workers needed it, of course.

The path leading right up to the factory was just plain dirt that looked a little different from the rest of the earthy tones all around. It was a path that had clearly been walked on by any before, tiny sprouts of grass refusing to grow on the compacted soil, thin fractures in the hot dirt running across the path. The factory stood equally as stark as the Mann Co Headquarters had against the too-bright Australian sky, seeming like nothing but a big blob of grey that shouldn't have been there. The only thing setting it apart from one of Gray's robot factories was the giant Mann Co sign stamped right on the front of the building

"What's the plan again? Go inside, get suited up and get out? But where exactly would we go next?" Engineer took a moment to pull off his scratched hardhat and wipe the sweat collecting on his forehead. Texas had been hot, but it was nothing compared to Australia.

"That's pretty much it. We'll track down Gray after you all get suited up. Or we can actually hunker down somewhere, and wait for him to find us." Miss Pauling as somewhat relieved to see the factory, pushing aside the heavy doors to let herself and the mercenaries in.

"I dunno lass, I rather go find the bloody bastard and give him what he deserves."

"An ice pick in the head?"

"I like the way ye think, boyo."

The factory was unlit and not functional. Scrap metal, unfinished weapons, and piles of finished weaponry lay around on conveyor belts that had seemed to gone out of operation a considerable amount of time ago. A not-so-thin layer of dust had settled over everything.

Miss Pauling ignored the metal and weaponry of the finished and unfinished variety, heading straight for her target. On the second floor, was a massive room full of sewing machines, red fabric, and coatracks of finished uniforms.

"Holy hell…" Axel breathed. "That's a lot of uniforms for eighteen men."

Miss Pauling refused to make eye contact. "Aha, yeah… eighteen." She quickly noticed her slip and tried to cover up. "You won't believe how many uniforms you guys go through a year. It's enough for a few hundred men."

Axel was highly suspicious, but decided not to prod further. It didn't sound like business that he wanted to know.

"Anyway guys, get suited up, and we'll get out of here. Oh, and Pyro? Burn the old clothes when you're all done." She turned around to let the men sift through the clothes for a uniform that fit their classes and themselves, that wasn't too old or shabby. Makina and Medibot resigned themselves to picking up a new Medigun for Medibot on the weapons floor, Bidwell deciding to follow.

Her phone began to ring. She picked up, despite not knowing the number. "Hello?"

No one responded. She could hear a light breathing that lasted a few seconds, then the caller hung up. She stared at the phone, confused. "Who could have called?" The caller ID was not a number she recognised from anywhere, and she didn't have her computer to track it. She hoped whoever had called had just been a prank caller or an accidental call.

When she turned around, most of her mercenaries had gotten into their uniforms. It felt a little relieving to see them once more, looking so familiar. It was almost as if they were all just back in Teufort. Just a dusty, dark, clothes-filled Teufort.

Axel pulled on a rubber mask, strapping on the steaming, horned skull mask that he had kept clipped to his belt. Just like that, a sensible, charming man had turned back into a mumbling, murderous arsonist. For familiarity sake, he also had a red wizard hat on, just like his usual.

Medic side-eyed the hat, shaking his head. "I don't know vhy you vear zhat zhing, Herr Pyro." Pyro only replied with a thumbs up, pointing to the pale blue coat the doctor donned.

The second everyone had gotten into uniforms, names disappeared, and they began to address each other by class again, It was a whole transformation that had taken place, so simply by wearing a uniform.

"I'll admit, the uniform never felt this comfortable," Engineer said, looking down at his overalls that sat over a red polo shirt. "Didn't think I'd ever miss it."

Pyro nudged Engineer, gesturing to someone else across the room. Everyone fell silent, watching Spy wander over to the side of the room where blue clothes took dominance. He picked around the piles of clothes, and when he found what he seemingly wanted, bent down to pick up a simple blue shirt. The assassin said nothing, and neither did anyone else. Among all the blue, he was just a spot of red, like blood oozing out of a fresh gunshot wound. After a moment more of staring at the shirt, he let it fall from his hands and back onto the pile, retreating from the sea of blue clothes.

Miss Pauling decided to break the silence. "If you guys are done, we can go downstairs and get the robots and Bidwell." A dash of something that felt a little like hope fluttered within her, seeing her mercenaries almost as good as new. Fresh (albeit a little crumpled) uniforms, new, expensive weaponry (that now put her into several trillions of dollars of debt), it filled her with a little bit of hope.

They filed down the stairs and back to the weapons floor, finding Makina, Medibot and Bidwell also fully geared. Medibot was clutching the Medigun in his hands tightly, the hose connected to the medpack attached to his back.

Everyone stared at each other, an odd sense of familiar unfamiliarity washing over everyone. Spy frowned, adjusting his suit jacket. "Does anyone hear that?"

 _"_ _Hear vhat?"_

"A low whistle. Almost like a…. _rocket."_

A loud explosion rocked the building, the walls and floor shaking violently as a rocket slammed into the side of the building and exploded. A second and a third followed suit, throwing the factory into flames that licked at the walls and began to creep towards the insides of the factory.

"Move!" Spy yelled, thrusting the mercenaries into action. Explosions left ears ringing, the floor shaking, as rockets continued to fire at the building. The old factory walls began to crack and heave under the flames and explosions, not wanting to hold itself up.

Miss Pauling ran straight for the open doors, gasping as Medic grabbed her and pulled her aside as a rocket slammed into the wall, bursting it into flames.

The once dim factory was now alight with orange, casting a cruelly eerie glow on everything. Little bits of the ceiling began to peel and crumble, pattering onto the floor below.

"Pyro!" Miss Pauling called. "Can't you get rid of this with your powers or something?"

Pyro was desperately airblasting the flames, but they crawled back too easily. "Nhh! Ahh chhn hhnly chhntrhll iht, nhht rhhmhhve iht!" Miss Pauling only grasped half of those words, but pyro's desperate hand gestures told her no. "Jhhst rhnn thrhhgh thh fllhhmes!"

"Are you mad? Run through the flames?" Engineer retorted. The fire was starting to get bigger, the only thing keeping it under slight control being the flamethrower in Pyro's hands.

"Ghh! Bhfhhre iht ghhts bigghr!" He blasted some of the flames out, shoving Miss Pauling forward. "Ghht hht!"

All at once they ran through the flames. The heat made her sweat, her ears were still ringing, and everything seemed to be in slow motion as she made straight for the open metal doors. Rockets stopped coming, but the factory was crumbling right on top of them. Miss Pauling threw herself out of the doors and into safety. Nonetheless she scrambled further away from the crumbling building, glasses falling off her face.

The building had quickly reduced into flaming rubble, dust and dirt flying up into the air in a thick cloud as debris crashed to the floor. Miss Pauling remained on the floor for awhile, trying to catch her breath, before frantically looking around to make sure Bidwell and the mercenaries were safe.

She let herself flop to the ground in relief as she counted the mercenaries, finding everyone out of the destroyed factory. For the most part everyone looked okay, watching the burning mass of concrete in front of them.

Medic hauled Miss Pauling to her feet, quickly looking her over to make sure she was okay. "Ve should get out of here. Whoever vas shooting at us knows ve're here. Ve should move before zhe dust settles."

The team began to run back to the Mann Co. They could grab a plane and flee and… Demoman glanced behind him, eye widening at the sight of someone chasing them. Any features were indistinguishable, but Demoman could tell whoever it was seemed pretty determined on catching up.

"Aye, lads? Ye might wanna hurry up and get the plane started." Bidwell had redirected from the plane and to a luxury car, big enough to hold Saxton Hale himself, but not eight mercenaries and two secretaries.

"The jets aren't fueled! Get into the car and let's get out of here!" With some pushing and shoving, the mercenaries squeezed into the too-small car, Bidwell slamming down on the accelerator before their pursuer, whoever it was, caught up.

Everyone in the car relaxed a little as it sped away, Mann Co and the burning factory shrinking behind them. "At least that's outta the wa-" Something pinged against the side of the car, Engineer poking his head out of the window to see their pursuer still giving chase in a second car. A hand stuck out of the driver's side window, a shotgun pointed at the black car speeding ahead.

"Ah spoke too soon, didn't I?" Engineer's face fell, a scowl forming as Pyro shifted himself to the side of the car, pushing the door open. "Pyro! What are you-" Pyro shoved his flamethrower into Engineer's hands.

"Pssh iht bhhck thh mhh whhn I'hmm ohn thh rhhf." He stuck his upper body out of the car, gripping onto the roof, and swinging himself up. There was a clank, and Engineer only let out a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding until Pyro's hand reached down for the flamethrower. The weapon disappeared onto the roof of the speeding car.

Pyro steadied himself, feeling the force of the wind against him. If he was not careful, he would take a tumble straight off the car. Keeping his weight balanced to counter the car's movement, he let out short spurts of flames to keep their attacker back.

The dirt road under them changed to smooth asphalt, and they sped onto a highway into a small town.

Miss Pauling looked back at her mercenaries, panicking when she didn't see Pyro. Muffled shouting coming from the roof of the car gave her little relief. She turned her stare to Bidwell, who had a frown etched into his thin brows, eyes locked onto the road.

Pyro most certainly noticed two police cars they sped by. Immediately the cops jumped into action, the pursuer's car dropping behind and disappearing. Now one chaser had turned into two cop cars with sirens wailing.

"Whht!" Pyro banged on the car roof with a hand, lowering his flamethrower. It was too risky to get back into the car now, but he was certain what he was doing was illegal, and so was his weapon.

Medibot rolled down the window on his side to look out. The number of cop cars had tripled, sirens wailing in a wordless attempt to get the speeding car to stop. _"Oh... zhey're not very friendly are zhey?"_ Another bullet whizzed by his head, and he retreated into the car.

"Ach, zhey're shooting us too?" Medic growled. "Bidwell, keep driving." He pushed his way to the door as well, kicking open the door and swinging onto the roof with ease.

"Mhhdic!" Pyro was surprised to see the doctor join him on the roof. A bullet missed them by an inch.

"Zhis car isn't going to last long at zhe rate zhey're shooting." He cast a shield faced at the cops. For a moment they slowed, stunned by the fizzling blue shield that had sprung from nowhere, but picking up speed once the initial shock was gone.

Inside the car, Bidwell continued to push the car to its maximum, tires skidding on the road at turns. In the distance ahead, pinpricks of red and blue light flashed. His eyes widened in horror. It was a formidable barrier of police cars, preventing them from going further.

 _"Drive right through them,"_ Makina suggested.

"The car we're in will blow first. I can't, I have to stop." Bidwell turned to look at Miss Pauling's frantic face. "I'm sorry."

The car skidded to a halt as it got dangerously near to the barrier, throwing both mercenaries on the roof off and forward. Miss Pauling gasped in horror as she saw both of them tumble off the car and onto the ground in front of the car, herself yanking open the door and squeezing out.

Police officers of varying threat had surrounded them, all holding guns. Two officers had guns pointed directly at the mercenaries on the ground, a third one stopping Miss Pauling from checking on them with an assault rifle directed at her chest.

"Get out of the car!" A particularly thin officer yelled, throwing open the car door and threateningly pointing his rifle at those inside.

"Aye, aye, no need ta yell lad." Demoman got out with a grumble, his cool disposition unnerving some of the less jaded officers.

They were surrounded now, with no visible way of escape that wouldn't involve sacrificing one or two of them. Surveying the officers, Spy realised a lot of them were eager to fire their weapons, but yet all seemed relatively easy to stab of he could get behind them. He itched to unleash the hidden blade within his sleeve.

"Hands in the air!" The same officer ordered. Initial hesitation had him firing at the ground, too close to Miss Pauling's feet for comfort. "I said hands in the air! Now!" Reluctantly, they raised their hands, all eyes diverting to a simple white car as the door opened.

Makina's gears whirred with anger as Gray came face to face with him, the smaller man's face plastered with exaggerated disappointment. He clicked his tongue.

"What a shame, you know? I was looking forward to working with you all. A peaceful agreement, just help me finish my project and then I'd stop waging war on you." He wandered to Pyro and Medic, both of which had been forced to their feet and back to their friends. "I honestly thought you mercenaries were a little more hard-headed then to listen to two _broken_ robots. Is that was Miss Pauling teaches you?"

Silence fell over the group. Gray continued to walk around, clicking his tongue. "Well, I still have my project to finish. Of course... I really don't need all of you. Just one." He sauntered up to Medibot, who really wished he was elsewhere. "Just one."

Gray's gaze shifted to Makina, who, despite firearms pointed at him, moved to stand between Gray and Medibot. _"You'll have to get through me, asshole."_

"You? Oh please, you break my heart."

 _"You don't have one."_

In one swift movement Gray pulled out a small remote, clicked a button, and the light from Makina's eyes died, any whirr of processors going quiet. His head drooped, and he stopped talking. The robot remained standing, but had been shut off. Medibot stared in horror, feeling vulnerable without his friend to protect him and talk for him.

Gray smiled at Medibot, before looking back at the circle of officers. "Take them away. Feel free to have a little fun, but don't kill them. I might need one or a few of them, in case this one doesn't talk." He clicked the remote again and Medibot shut down as well, Gray pulling the inactive bot along like a child while the officers shoved the mercenaries into police cars, them unsuccessfully wriggling and wrestling to lunge at Gray.

...

When Medibot was turned on again, he was greeted with shockingly familiar surroundings. He was back at the factory.

So much for escaping.

All that work, all that effort trying to run away, to escape from this madman, was reduced to nothing. He was in Gray's office, the old man sitting at his desk going through paperwork.

"Ah, hello there, 208. Good to see you. How are you?" Medibot hated Gray for calling him his number, and maintained a stony silence. Resentment for this man grew within him, and for the first time, he felt hatred. It felt pretty good.

Gray got up from his seat, stepping over dried blood that had refused to get out of the carpet. He looked down at dismay at the stain, clicking his tongue. "See, you also did this to my carpet. Couldn't save him, could you?" Medibot urged to wrap his hands around his neck and strangle him, but the security cameras would alert every other robot in the building. Looking behind, there were two Heavybots standing at the door, watching him closely. He would just have to play along for now.

"I know we're not exactly off to a good start here, but I'd like to show you my project nonetheless, seeing as how you're a pretty big part of it yourself. Walk with me." Gray passed Medibot and out of the doors. Medibot was reluctant to follow, but the Heavybots rounded on him and shoved him out, giving him no choice but to follow the old man.

...

"Hhy, Ehhngie. Thhry thhrn hhm ohn."

"What?"

"Thhrn hhm ohn."

"I zhink Herr Pyro means to turn zhe robot on."

"Oh."

Engineer reached a foot out and flip Makina over. The robot didn't respond to the rough movement. Scooting forward, Engineer turned around, leaning backwards to try fiddle with the switch panel with his hands cuffed behind his back. After several unsuccessful flicks, he got the right switch and Makina began to power up again.

The officers had thrown them into Gray's jail at his command and left them cuffed where they were now in the presence of several idle Heavybots that would beat them around when they felt like it. None of the mercenaries were without some fresh cuts and bruises.

Makina stared hard at the mercenaries around him. _"Where's Medibot."_ The question came out flat, the robot clearly unhappy about where he was and what he assumed Gray had done.

"Gray took him. We don't know where he is, but I assume it's somewhere in this building." Spy leaned against the far wall, away from everyone else. Quietly he was cutting out of his restraints with his hidden blade that had surprisingly not been confiscated. How long it would take for a knife to cut through handcuffs, he didn't know.

 _"_ _The hell would Gray want with him?"_ Makina asked. He was frustrated, very frustrated. One of the Heavybots got out of idle mode, beating a fist against a palm as it looked around for its next target. Its eyes settled on Pyro. Oh boy.

...

"So you see, you know I'm an ambitious man. I try to further humanity's development with the use of robots. Why send real men with families to war, when we can send robots? Endless robots, with no family, no feelings, no pain? Of course, I've only been in the robot manufacturing business for awhile, so things aren't flawless."

Gray blabbered on and on as he walked, seemingly lost in his own words. Medibot followed behind, hardly listening, and fully aware of the Heavybots still following, occasionally pushing him when he slowed down and keep distance from Gray. Gray stopped in front of a pair of heavy sliding doors, placing his palm on a scanner.

"…So you see, I've created some new prototypes. And I didn't want just any random person coming in and trying to steal them and use them, so I also installed a code…"

The doors slid open with a _shhk!_ and Medibot could already see. At the end of a pristine marble hallway, were two shining robots. They looked like any other Pyrobot and Medibot, but they were bigger, made of quality materials, and probably had a lot of hidden functions Medibot didn't quite want to know. Completely new. Gray took Medibot right up to them.

"…the code changes every thirty seconds, so even if someone were to steal them, they wouldn't be able to use them or activate them unless they stole you too."

 _"_ _Vait, vhat?"_ Medibot couldn't keep the question.

Gray shook his head. "You weren't listening, were you? I said, there's a code linked to these two that is needed to activate them, and it changes every thirty seconds. The code is also linked to your serial number, and only you know the code. I need it."

 _"_ _I… I'm not giving it to you."_ If Gray wanted to use it to activate the two prototypes and go on a rampage, well, he was going to have to force it out of him.

Gray frowned. "You know, I made you initially just to be 358's 'personal assistant'. I made you with all your little quirks, and one of them includes following orders, in case you forgot. It was initially so you would oblige to any thing 358 requested within reason, but I figure it'd be good if I needed you to hold the code for me, and provide it when I asked. Give. Me. The. Code."

Medibot stayed adamantly silent, glaring at Gray. Gray returned the glare for awhile, before relenting.

"Alright, that's fine. If you won't give me the code, and I can't force it out of you, we'll just call a friend of yours to help, shall we?"

He gestured to one of the Heavybots, whispering something to it. It nodded and turned, leaving the room. Gray's eyes settled on Medibot again, a smile forming on his lips. "I'm sure your friend will be very helpful."

It wasn't too long before the Heavbot returned, dragging Pyro with him. The RED had refused to go along and simply become dead weight, letting the Heavybot struggle to keep walking without having to drop and readjust its grip. It threw Pyro forward onto the ground, not giving time for him to recover before grabbing his arm and yanking him up so that he was on his knees, both hands held up by the Heavybots and exposing his body.

Gray reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a switchblade. "Hello, Mr. Bigarsky. Fancy seeing you again." Pyro mumbled a 'fuck you' through his mask, already tired from the beating earlier.

"We're going to play a game, okay Medibot? Every time you don't answer me and give me the code, I'll stab your friend here. I'm sure he wouldn't mind one or two or ten more battle scars." Pyro became a little more alert, but refused to say anything that would seem weak. Gray stared at Medibot evenly, the latter's gaze flicking between Pyro and Gray. "So, Medibot," Gray said, running a wrinkly finger along the blade, "What's the code?"

What did Makina say when he was angry? Ah, yes. _"Go fuck yourself."_

Gray sighed, stepping towards Pyro. With a swift move, he plunged the blade into his torso. Pyro made a muffled yelp of pain that he tried to cut off quickly so Gray wouldn't get the satisfaction, but pain seared through him like electricity, forcing him to tense up.

Gray turned back to look at Medibot. "I can do this all day. You've got a lot of friends, so even if I kill one, there's more." His tone was even and nonchalant, and silently he enjoyed the pained, muffles wheezes coming from Pyro. "If you give me the code, I'll let him go now."

Medibot's gaze flickered to Pyro, hoping to get some indication of what to do. He wasn't a leader, he was a follower. He was scared to make his own decisions. Pyro looked up, slowly shaking his head. "Nhh…"

Medibot stayed silent.

With a flick of his wrist, Gray twisted the knife upwards, forcing a pained whine out from Pyro. A steady pool of blood was starting to form on the white marble floor.

"You know, Medibot. People aren't replaceable like robots are. If he dies… he dies." Gray pulled the knife from Pyro, who sank forward on the grasp of the Heavybots, eyesight turning blurry and head feeling lighter with every drop of blood that left him. Very lightly, Gray stroked the knife against Pyro's neck. He stared at Medibot, waiting for an answer, pressing the knife a little harder against Pyro's neck for every second Medibot stayed quiet.

 _"_ _Q4DK9C-F6R3PL."_

Gray smiled. He got what he wanted. As promised, he removed the knife, completely ignoring Pyro. "Thank you. See, that wasn't so hard, was it? Take the Pyro away. I don't care if he lives or dies anymore." The Heavybots nodded, grabbing Pyro and hauling him out of the room, leaving a thin trail of blood in his wake.

Gray turned back to the prototypes, keying in the code Medibot had given him. There was a tense moment of silence as the robots processed the code, before a soft _ping_ told them it was accepted. They began to start up.

With the whirr of new processors starting up for the first time, it gave Medibot time to do one of two things. Run, or go forward and rip the Australium pack out of Gray's back while it was turned.

Medibot found himself rolling towards Gray. He let hatred and anger fuel him on, despite something inside also telling him to turn and run while he still could. _Kill him. Kill him kill him kill him now. Do it, you coward!_ Refusing to allow himself to think about the consequences anymore, Medibot reached forward, grabbing onto the Australium pack, and yanking it right off.

The golden liquid sprayed out of tubes, electricity sparking and popping and smoke starting to form. Gray collapsed to the floor, screaming in pain as Australium drained from his system and spilled onto the floor.

Medibot felt a rush of glee at the sight. Along with the golden Australium, blood also mixed in, creating a weird, coppery liquid on the floor.

"You… idiot…" Gray wheezed, clutching at his chest with fingers that were quickly turning bony and his skin greying even more than it previously was. The dark eye circles returned worse than ever, and his face looked deathly hollow. The Australium had made him look younger for someone who was a few hundred something years old, and now that it was gone, the effects of age were back in full swing.

"Ha… ha… you don't know what you've done…" Gray wheezed. Behind him, both bots were starting to turn fully active. Medibot began to back up. He would relish his first kill later. "You're smarter than I thought… but Gray Industries isn't dead…. ha…"

Medibot fled the room.

...

Medic could tell something was wrong when the Heavybots threw Pyro back into the cell. In the dimness he couldn't see the blood, but Pyro didn't get up, or say anything. He remained limp on the floor, a rattled wheezing softly coming from under the mask.

Medic crawled over. In the time the Heavybots had left, Spy had freed himself and all of the other mercenaries of their handcuffs.

"Pyro! Herr Pyro, vhat happened?" Pyro let out a barely audible answer accompanied by wheezing. It didn't take long for Medic to find the wound. "Mein Gott…"

Pyro coughed, his body shaking. His breath was uneven and shallow, eyes barely open under the mask. Medic was getting frantic. He needed to see the extent of the wound, but with Pyro's suit...

"Wait, what happened?" Engineer came up, lighting brushing his hand against Pyro, who was barely moving.

"I don't know. I can't see zhe extent of zhe vound so… I hope zhis is enough." Letting his hands glow a soft aura of blue, he rolled Pyro onto his back and gently placed a hand against where most of the blood came from, where he guessed the wound was. Pyro's soft gasp of pain made him wince, but after a minute or two, Pyro's breath evened out and slowed a little.

Medic relaxed a little, seeing the improvements. "Herr Pyro? Are you alright?"

"Hrng…."

"Well, is he alive?" Spy stood over them, watching the scene with mild interest. "If he is, then get him up. We still need to break out, in case none of you have noticed."

"He's fine, but he vill be tired. Unfortunately I cannot replace lost blood. His body vill have to do zhat itself." Medic crossed his legs neatly, keeping watch over Pyro who still hadn't moved from his spot on the cold floor.

Spy scowled. "We are not waiting around for him to return to his normal state. The sooner we get out, the sooner we-" He froze as a shadow shifted along the wall, relaxing when he saw Medibot return, holding a severed hand.

 _"_ _Is Pyro okay? Please tell me he's okay, I can't have someone else die on my account,"_ Medibot said, fumbling with the hand to press it against the unlock scanner. The hand was awfully bony, and he threw it away as soon as the scanner accepted it and the cell unlocked.

"Come on Herr, let's go." Medic slid Pyro's arm over his shoulder, hauling the arsonist to his feet. Pyro stumbled a little, trying to regain balance through blurry eyes and a foggy mind. "He's alright, a little tired is all. Vhere's Gray?"

 _"_ _Oh… I killed him."_ Medibot turned quiet, unsure if he felt proud of himself for murdering the man who had caused him so much trouble, or guilty. Makina patted him on the shoulder.

 _"_ _Nice work, Doc. Now, let's get our weapons and get out."_

 _..._

Olivia watched through the cameras. Her eyes were locked on the one screen that showed the prototype room. The two robots were now gone, her father's body still there in a pool of blood mixed with Australium, but she felt no sadness. Her father's company was now hers. She was free to rule it how she would.

And she would rule it without mercy. Those mercenaries were going to die one way or another.


	19. Chapter 19

Medibot wasn't sure how he felt about Gray's death anymore. At the time, when he had ripped the precious life-support machine out of his back and the shimmering, golden Australium pooled out of the machines and onto the floor, mixing with coppery blood, he had felt a shocking thrill run through his circuits. But now, just some short hours later out in the city once more, he felt a little guilt.

Murdering a man didn't feel quite as heroic as he had imagined, and it left the robot mulling over the decision he had made as the ragtag group of mercenaries wandered through the now-quiet town in search of the same motel they had found earlier. Maybe the lady at the counter would be kind enough to let them stay again, or she'd chase them out after recognising that Spy never returned her car. Either way, it was worth a shot.

On one hand, Medibot mused, Gray had been out to murder his friends. Friends that had protected him and kept him out of harm's way and freed him from the factory twice now. On the other hand, Gray had created him. What's done was done, right? So why did he have to feel bad about it?

It didn't take the team too long to find the same motel again. For some reason outside, there weren't any drunks lying around. The street was dead quiet.

"Somezhing feels off," Medic commented, still supporting the tired Pyro. "Ve should get off zhe street as soon as possible."

"Yes, of course. Bidwell can go talk to the lady and try to get us rooms again. With Gray dead hopefully we can rest for a night at the very least before we go back to clear the factory. The threat isn't gone yet." Spy seemed to stare at Bidwell pointedly as he spoke, expecting the thin man to walk straight into the motel's front doors.

"Me? Why me, can't you do it?"

"The lady might not be too happy to see me, or any of us, after I 'borrowed' her car and possibly destroyed it." Spy was completely nonchalant to the fact that he owed someone a brand new car, and that he probably was never going to pay it back.

Bidwell was stunned. "I- you can't just- ugh, fine." Straightening his grey jacket as best as he could, he left the group to enter the motel.

The rest of the mercenaries stood around in complete silence. The only sound came from the distant wail of sirens and a cold breeze rustling the leaves of what few trees lining the road. Every shop along the road had its lights off except for a single bar across the street, but even that seemed suspiciously empty. The only person inside seemed to be the hostess, cleaning the countertop.

It was like in the short span of a few days, the city had turned into a ghost town, completely void of life. Nothing at all like the first time they had come, when the streets were bustling and crowded with couples out for late night drinks and drunk bar fights resulting in several passed out people in the road.

The motel's doors opened again, Bidwell exiting with the same lady behind him. "Yes, it's just a few of my friends-"

Spy was met with a toxic glare. The woman stared long and hard, taking a moment to confirm her assumptions before hissing. "No. No way. This fucker here owes me a car. You think you can just take my car and disappear a few days? Huh? Where the fuck is my car?"

"Now now, miss. I'm sure he weren't expecting such a long tri-" She cut Engineer off with more angry hissing.

"This isn't how things roll around here. I've put up with a lot of fucking bullshit all my life, then you take my car, now the city's in fucking lockdown." She started to retreat to the door.

"Vait- lockdown?"

"If you fuckers think you're welcome in here, you better get your heads out of your goddamn asses." She retreated into the motel and slammed the door shut, an audible lock sounding from the other side.

Bidwell's lips pressed together. "That went well. Guess she remembered the part about taking-"

"Borrowing."

"-borrowing her car. Well, we can't stand out here all night. If the city's in lockdown like she says it is, the police might be coming around soon."

Medic's eyes drifted to the bar across the street. The hostess inside was watching them through the window. For a moment she just surveyed them like a hawk, assessing the risks of letting them in. None of them seemed to know what was happening. She gave the street a quick glance for any police, before turning the lights inside a little brighter, and flipping the CLOSED sign to OPEN. She stared at them a little more, before resuming her cleaning.

"Anyone vant a drink?" Medic asked, already making his way across the street.

"A drink? Lad, ye know I could always use a drink!" Demoman followed enthusiastically, eye brightening at the prospect of some nice scrumpy.

Heavy shrugged. "Is better than standing in street. Come along now, Pyro. You can sleep inside bar." The bear of a man tugged Pyro along, the masked arsonist whining a little as he went along. The rest followed in silence, even if they didn't agree with getting drunk.

The hostess looked up once more as the mercenaries entered. She was a fine lady, in her late twenties or early thirties, with a few lines under her heavily made-up eyes that showed some stress she had been through. She was thin for the most part, but had some substance at her chest. Her hips were a little too small, her sharp face framed with thick, wavy chestnut hair, but on a good day, she may have been quite attractive.

"You really shouldn't be out on the street during lockdown. I'm guessing you're all newcomers to town." She was cool in the face of ten strangers, two of which were robots and six of them ragged, mostly-burly men.

Heavy let Pyro flop onto one of the chairs while the rest talked to the hostess. "Not... exactly new. We've been here some time ago. If you don't mind me askin' Miss, why's the city in lockdown?" Engineer hopped onto one of the stools to get level with the tall woman.

Her face fell, the concealer under her eyes suddenly failing to hide her tiredness. Her hair now appeared limp and her shoulders sagged a little. "We've gotten news of a possible attack. Some guy out there's apparently been planning it for some time. Last night some robots stormed the west side of town, killed a bunch of people. Police had to barricade it off and protect the rest of the city, but there ain't enough police to look after everywhere. So they set in a curfew, put the city in lockdown. No one goes in and no one goes out. Surprise that a bunch like you would make it in."

"Robots..." Miss Pauling muttered. "Why'd you let us in then? You'd have been able to see we had two robots with us from across the street."

"Well, they seemed harmless. You guys semed to get along, so I figure it ain't good for a bunch of strangers with two robots to be out in the street during curfew. I try help people where I can, y'know? Looks good on me when I'm getting judgement from God."

She took a moment to bend down and produce several cups from under the counter. "Have a drink on the house. Don't see myself running out any time soon."

Demoman lunged straight for the entire bottle of rum, chugging it down like a maniac. The woman stared in disbelief and awe, quietly producing another bottle for the rest to share.

Makina retreated to a corner where he found a charging port, Medibot going to the opposite side of the room where Pyro was resting. He wished the Pyro would just take off his suit for a moment so he could see if he was alright, but didn't feel it was right to intrude on his space like that. Instead, he sat down on the space next to Pyro, glancing over every so often.

Medic took another barstool, sipping on the vodka offered to him by the hostess. "Robots, huh? Vhat did zhey look like?"

The hostess shrugged. "News couldn't get nuch footage since the entire place was cordened off and no one was allowed there. I like your accent, by the way. German?"

"Ja. Zhat obvious, isn't it?" The two of them shared a quiet laugh, the hostess serving herself a cup as well.

She took a big gulp, setting the glass cup back on the counter and letting the burning feeling get to her. "Ah, my father went to Germany. He went there for a business trip in 1938, supposed to come back in 1940. Too bad the war broke out."

"Ah- I'm so sorry, Frau. World Var 2 vas a bad time for everyone." He didn't feel the need to share his own stories of the war. It hadn't been a nice time, with annoying officers, near-death experiences, execution attempts and getting stuffed into a deep-freeze container. For awhile their conversation stopped, the two of them simply sipping on their drinks. Then out of sheer curiousity, Medic decided to ask for her name.

"Oh, my name? It's Christina."

At the name, Pyro seemed to perk up a little. "Chhrsthhna?" He repeated. He sank back down into the chair after a moment. "Prhhbhbhhly nhht thh shhme Chhrsthhna." Despite that, Pyro kept his unseeing gaze fixed on her. Something about her seemed very familiar, but it probably wasn't important. Just a woman from the past, maybe someone he'd met before.

"Vell Christina, it's very kind of you to have let us into your bar vhen zhe city is in lockdown. I-" The doctor noticed Christina's gaze fixed on something outside, and couldn't help but turn around as well. Police sirens were getting louder and closer, and in an instant everyone scrambled to hide.

"Go upstairs! I'll turn off the lights, just make sure no one sees your friends!" The hostess pushed Medic and his friends towards the door behind the counter while she hurried to shove the cups under the counter and turn off all the lights and close the shutters. The mercenaries crammed themselves into the small room behind the door, some of them resorting to staying on the stairs.

Some commotion could be heard outside as police sirens got louder. It stayed loud for awhile as the police presumably went up and down the street to make sure no one was out. _"Hey Pyro. You know the lady?"_ Makina asked. He had been listening in on the conversation.

"Shh mhhght bhh mhh ehx. Lhhk, exx ghhrlfrhhnd."

"Hah! Your ex, lad? I didn't know ye had a girlfriend!" Demoman nudged Pyro playfully. "Wot, she ain't your taste?"

"Shh whhs fhhkhng innshhne."

They waited till the sirens faded away again, before daring to exit the small room.

Christina kept a wary eye on the window to make sure no one was outside before she turned the lights on again, this time setting it a little dimmer in case any cops hung around.

"That was close. Look guys, I don't know how long y'all plan on staying, but I can't keep you here forever." She took out the unfinished glass of vodka and finished it in a single gulp.

"That's alright Miss. We don't plan on stayin' forever either. Got places to go and things to do, right fellas?" Engineer got a chorus of quiet agreement. They just needed to rest a bit and be gone in daylight.

The hostess offered a tired smile. "Well, I guess I'll clean up and get some rest. Don't get caught if you leave." She collected the empty glasses and headed into the back room to wash them, leaving the mercenaries on their own.

After a good five minutes of silence, Makina shifted from his spot and spoke up. _"Is everyone just going to ignore the fact that Gray's robots are murdering an entire town?"_

"Ve're not ignoring it, but vhat vould you propose ve do? Ve can't just walk out zhere and get rid of zhem like bugs. Ve need some tactic of some sort at zhe least."

"He's right. We don't know much about the city either, or where they are going to strike next. And truth be told, unless Engineer has been working on making the two of you giant walking sappers, taking down an army of robots of going to be hard." Spy's cold stare flickered between everyone in the room. "Speaking of which, have any plans been made?"

The silence Engineer gave couldn't have been more infuriating. The Texan took off his helmet to scratch his bald head, eyes drifting towards the two robots off to the corner. "I have some drafts, but without time and the right tools it's gonna be hard to execute. But this is a town right? Surely there's gotta be some mechanic shop around here."

"Yes, and just how much time do you want to spend tinkering away in someone else's shop? We don't exactly have all the time i the world."

"And I can't just cough up something so elaborate in a night, Spah."

Heavy could sense the rising tensions between the two and decided to step in, literally. He moved forward and blocked them from each other's view before they could escalate into something worse than insults.

"It doesn't matter. Tonight we rest up. And tomorrow we look for shop. Then while Engineer works, we can look out for robots." He cut Spy off as the assassin looked ready to speak. "No arguments. Is plan, not suggestion."

Several more tense vibes were sent between Engineer and Spy, but they retreated to opposite ends of the dim bar with no further words exchanged. Such was the rest of the night, spent sleeping in areas of varying comfort. Come daylight they would at least be a little more ready to go.

...

 _Purring. Horst found himself standing in the midst of a fine apartment, decorated with both modern and antique furniture. He hung around the kitchen door, marvelling at a lovely woman through the doorway._

 _She was_ _cooking something. The smell didn't quite seem so familiar, but it was nice anyway. He didn't make a move to approach, however. It didn't seem right to interrupt._

 _From the back the woman had an hourglass figure. Golden-brown hair swept acros her back in a low ponytail, several loose strands settling at her neck._

 _By her feet a single ginger cat walked, purring and winding itself around her legs. The woman turned, serving herself her dinner, taking it out to the dining room. As she passed the television, she turned it on. She didn't seem to notice Horst at all._

 _The doctor remained by the kitchen doorway, only approaching curiously as she ate her dinner, her eyes fixed on the television. On the screen was footage of the area of the city that had been attacked. Parts of both robots and people remained, oil and blood slicking the pavement. The woman didn't at all seem fazed._

 _A knock on the door had them both turning their attention away from the graphic footage. She got up and approached the door, Horst deciding to follow._

 _The woman opened the door, shrieking in horror as several faceless, mangled robots stormed in, pinning her against the wall. She may not have been able to see Horst, but the blackened, shapeless robots certainly could, for they also went for him._

 _Horst wanted to scream, but found himself staring in silent horror as one of them pulled out a camera and faced the lens towards him as another pressed a pistol against his temple._

 _They spoke unintelligible words, crackles of static cutting words off. The woman was forced to her knees, a threatening rifle pressed to her robot amalgamate tightened its grip on the trigger and pulled._

"Helga-!"

Medic sat up suddenly, cold sweat dampening his face. He took a second to familiarise himself with his surroundings, trying to relax. They were all still in the bar, and everything looked the same except for the milky light that was beginning to wash over the street outside.

Rubbing his face, the doctor took a few heavy breaths. Helga was fine, Helga was fine. She wasn't even anywhere remotely close to the city they were in.

He found Makina watching hin through dim eyes. _"Nightmare?"_ The mechanic Sniper asked.

"Ja... I zhink zhis is all getting to me. Zhe one chance I get a chance at a full night's rest and zhis has to happen." He arched his back like a cat, feeling several pops in his spine.

 _"Figures. You've been writhing about for ten minutes now."_ Makina left his spot in the far corner. _"But since you're awake, want to go out for a bit? Best we start scouting for that mechanic shop while the streets are still empty."_

"Ja, ja... of course. Just let me wash up." He dragged himself off the barstool he had fallen asleep on, heading straight for the bathroom.

The man he saw in the mirror seemed a good ten years older. He had never been one to care much for looks, seeing as how many times he had fallen asleep in his uniform, blood spattered over his face and all, but what he saw in the mirror was plain unappealing. The dark circles under his eyes, the lines at the corner of his eyes and around his mouth, it added a good number of years to his age.

He turned in the tap, letting cold water fill into the cup hos hands made before splashing it against his face. This war needed to end soon so he could go home to Helga and Schnaps, take a nice hot bath, and order himself the biggest pizza he could get.

Thinking about pizza made him hungry. He decided that while out looking for the mechanic shop Engineer needed, he would also look out for food.

Makina was waiting impatiently outside for him. _"You humans take really long in the bathroom, you know."_ It was a passing comment Medic didn't feel the need to answer.

The air outside was heavy and thick with lingering tensions from the night before. The street still seemed completely quiet on both ends, the road completely empty of cars and people.

"Do ve have a backup plan in case one of us gets caught?" Medic asked. He pulled off his coat and slung it over his shoulder instead. Best to look like a random civilian over a mass-murdering mercenary.

Makina gave the street a general sweeping glance. _"Plan is not to get caught."_

"Zhat's... helpful. I'll take one end, you take zhe ozher. And don't get caught, I don't zhink anyone here vill take nicely to robots." Makina nodded, deciding not to remind Medic that he wasn't stupid enough to get caught… because he probably was. He wasn't about to admit it, of course.

They split up, each heading down one end of the street in search for the elusive mechanic shop.

Makina wasn't so worried about someone finding him. Even if the police shot him, he was probably capable of dragging himself back to Medibot. He didn't feel pain, or really care about dying, so he wasn't all that concerned. At the same time he wasn't too worried about Medic getting found out by someone who wasn't all too friendly. The man was smart.

The click of his heels against the pavement was the only sound on his side of the empty road. The dusty, faded shops on either side were all still closed, their owners having retreated to their homes for the night. With the help of the pale, milky-yellow light, it seemed almost like some indie film he was walking through.

He made some observations about the bit of the town he was in. It wasn't at all like the big cities the others talked about sometimes. There were no flashing lights, giant billboards or constant heavy traffic and flow of people heading to work or out for shopping. He continued to walk, the sun getting higher and higher, the sky brightening into a pale blue-grey.

While he didn't know much about how people worked or their time schedules, he was quite certain people should have been going to work already. Yet, the street remained completely empty, almost as if… people weren't around at all.

Maybe it was an off day for people. Makina continued to walk down the street, turning down smaller streets to take a glance and backing back out of them if they seemed uninteresting. It took him to reach the end of a road block to realise:

The town was completely deserted.


	20. Chapter 20

Maybe it was the silence that was completely unnerving, or the fact that people _should_ have been around, but for some reason weren't. Yet there was no evidence that people had been killed, not in this part of the city anyway. It was almost as if people had just disappeared as a whole.

Makina returned to the worn-out bar, finding his friends for the most part half awake, still curled up in various corners of the small place. Medic hadn't returned yet, it seemed.

 _"This part of town is deserted,"_ he announced to whoever was awake. It didn't take long for someone to stir and respond.

"Deserted? Whadd'ya mean, 'deserted'?" Engineer arched his back very much like a cat, feeling several satisfying pops.

 _"I mean, there's absolutely no on-"_

The Sniperbot was cut off by Medic waltzing back in, a bag of churros and chocolate in one hand and coffee in the other. "Zhere's literally no one around here!" He announced. "Also I did find a mechanic shop and I may or may not have broken into a 7-Eleven for food. But they have churros!"

Engineer stared long and hard at the chocolate Medic had before pulling his eyes back to Makina. "So it ain't people home during curfew... people aren't even around at all?"

 _"Basically."_  
"Ja, zhat's it."

Spy got up fron his seat. "I'm going to ask Christina about this."

The team watched with interest, curious as to how Spy was going to go about asking the hostess about the lie she had told them.

The assassin couldn't seem to find her anywhere. She was not upstairs, not in the backroom. The bathroom door however, was locked. He immediately assumed she was inside, freshening up, perhaps. There was a thump from inside.

He knocked on the door nonetheless. She needed to know that it was urgent and that he needed to speak with her immediately. When no reply came, he knocked again, this time more insistently.

"Christina? It is impertinent that we speak with you." No reply. Spy was starting to get even more frustrated. "Christina?"

He heard a little running water and the shuffle of footsteps. Assuming she was just getting to the door, he took a step back to let her out. Somethig felt a little odd, and reflexively he drew his knife, the solidity of it in his hand providing a little more security.

The door took an awfully long time to open, Spy watching carefully as the doorknob jiggled and turned.

His reflexes were still incredible. He spotted the blood-soaked body on the floor and struck the very next second, twisting the Spybot around and jamming his knife straight into its back. It fizzled and popped, the scream of a woman morphing into static shrieks as the disguise of the hostess shimmered away into nothing.

Dropping the robot, Spy stepped past it and into the bathroom, approaching the pool of blood that had gathered under Christina's silver dress. Kneeling down, he extended a hand to touch the woman's still-warm neck. No pulse.

A thought struck him. Gingerly, he flipped the body around, searching for the fatal wound. At a glance, the kill had been clean. Her front was completely free of blood. Nothing had changed except for a little smudging of her lipstick from where the Spybot had grabbed her to keep her from screaming.

Through the red stained mess he found the wound. It was for the most part a clean stab, straight through the spine and into the heart. At least it had been a quick kill. From his investigation, he also found a tiny sign of a struggle. There was a small tear in her dress, possibly from where the Spybot had accidentally caught the knife on while trying to maneuver for the final strike.

Something a little like relief flowed through him as he realised the bots weren't quite perfect. They slipped up, their movements unable to fully mimic that of real mercenaries. Humans were always a little more skilled, and robots only knew what they were programmed to know.

He stood up again as someone else showed up at the door. "Herr Spy, you're taking awfully long and zhe ozhers are asking fo- oh." Medic had nothing else to say at the sight of the bathroom.

Spy gave Medic an expectant look, the doctor retreating from the doorway to go back to the rest.

Everyone else was awake and waiting, watching him with expecting looks. "I zhink... it's quite self explanatory." As if to emphasise his point, Spy tossed the broken robot onto the ground, the sound of metal against wood flooring echoing throughout the bar.

"So... lady was Spybot," Heavy stated, eyes fixed on the crumpled metal heap.

"Correction, she was just killed by a Spybot." Spy's piercing gaze swept the room, silently hoping someone would get the underlying message. When no one finished his sentence for him, he sighed in exasperation. "I mean there are robots around us. In this so-called abandoned part of town."

Engineer pursed his lips, staring at the Spybot. "I dunno, could have been a stray."

"And you think a stray would have known to kill the last person in this part of town?"

"Shh whhsn't thh lhhst phrrshnm."

Everyone's attention shifted to Pyro, though no one could make out his words. The firebug sighed, popping open the front of his mask. "I said she wasn't the last person. There's still the angry hotel lady across the street."

Makina got up. _"Well I don't know about all of you, but I'm going to talk to her."_ Medibot seemed to understand the implications of "talking", already getting up to try stop the taller robot. The two of them left the bar; whether the mercenaries followed or not was not their problem.

Makina knocked on the door of the inn, blatantly ignoring the closed sign crudely pasted on the door. After a moment of waiting, he knocked again, this time harder.

A muffled "fuck off" came from inside. Makina decided to try again. _"Come on lady, we just need to ask a simple question."_

An even more irritated reply, coupled with some rather insulting words floated through the door. None of them could wait any more, so Makina reared a hand back and let loose, punching a nice hole through the old wooden door. He was made of metal, so the thin door was no issue for him despite his lack of strength. Reaching his hand through the hole, he unlocked the door from inside and swung it open.

The two robots were greeted by an angry woman standing on a table with a pistol in her hands. She looked very much like a madwoman, her hair incredibly frizzy and her dress rumpled and stained.

"You fuckers take one more step and I will shoot you," she hissed, her grip on the single small firearm tightening. If Makina was capable of eye-rolling, he would have.

 _"Lady, I don't want to hurt you. You saw what I could do to a solid door. Just answer a question and we're outta here. Believe me, no one wants to stick around your ugly face either."_

His sentence ended with a loud bang. Still, he was not impressed by the bullet hole in his arm. _"Thanks for that, by the way."_

He approached the lady, watching her scramble to reload the gun. The second shot missed and in the next second, Makina grabbed her and pinned her against the wall, the pistol dropping to the floor.

 _"Now, do you want to answer that question or not?"_

"Fuck. You."

 _"Herr Makina, I thought ve vere just talking?"_

 _"And I am, right? I wasn't the one to shoot. So... where did everyone go? Were they killed? What happened exactly?"_

The woman trapped grunted, but gave no answer. Makina twisted her arm a little more, a spark of excitement coursing through him as he squeezed an answer from her.

"They- they died-" She paused to gasp in pain. "He- he lured them out to the c-city centre and- killed everyone w-who didn't know where you all were-"

 _"Who lured them?"_ Makina didn't twist her arm any further.

"Some girl... and her army of robots... they let me go because I-" She seemed to catch herself before anything else slipped.

Makina hummed in interest. _"You told her you knew us. Any chance this girl was wearing a green dress with white trimmings, orange eyes?"_

"Y-yeah."

Makina let her go, the woman slumping to the floor. _"We got what we need, Doc. Let's go."_ They left without another word. The team had a lot to know.

Everyone else was gearing up to go when Makina and Medibot returned. "So... what did y'all find?" Engineer asked.

 _"Well we found out that the woman from the hotel told Olivia that she had seen us. So if anything, Olivia knows we're around."_

"Vell zhat isn't good. That means we have an awful lot less time to actually get zhings done now."

Engineer stood up, pushing his arms against his knees. "If that's the case, I think we should get down to the mechanic shop now. God knows what little time we have left and I wanna get at least a proper prototype of the sapper out before she finds us."

A silent agreement rippled throughout the room, and abandoning anything that wasn't of use to them anymore, the mercenaries left the bar. Medic led the way out to the abandoned shop he'd found earlier, the others taking note of the broken glass door of the 7-Eleven on the way.

The shop was tucked away, a short thing squeezed in between two buildings twice it's height. There was a simple, half-closed metal shutter blocking the door - the owner had no time to fully close shop and lock it before fleeing this part of town. The shutter rolled back up without a fight, granting access to the oil-slicked workshop.

It was nothing impressive - nothing at all like Engineer's personal workshop back in Teufort. A single, half-fixed car remained on a raised platform, exposing it's underside. Scattered around the floor were tools unknown to everyone except Engineer, black oil stains marking almost every single surface. To the far right of the shop was a wall with a built-in shelf, bottles of car polish and the like lining on the shelves. The dust on both the bottles and the shelf told everyone that no one really bought anything. There was an off-white cash register on the counter, opened and ransacked of its contents, as well as a shelf of walkie talkies and multiple boxes of batteries.

"It ain't as great as home," Engineer mused, "but it's something. C'mon Medibot, we'll get to work on that prototype sapper. The rest of y'all, well, I'd suggest scouting around for anything of use and maybe some info on what Olivia knows. _Without_ getting caught. And before y'all go, take a walkie talkie. Gotta stay in contact." For some reason, the last reminder felt needed. Once he felt like everyone got the message, he and Medibot retreated to the counter, Engineer finding a box of blueprint paper to use.

Pyro and Heavy seemed to take it upon themselves to leave the stuffy workshop to explore the rest of the town and try to find out more about Olivia's whereabouts - mostly because the sickening smell of oil was getting to them. Medic was content to head back to the 7-Eleven to raid it of more food. Demoman took to examining anything in the workshop closely for use, and Spy left for a smoke break.

Despite the empty street, Pyro clutched his flamethrower close, his fingers lightly tapping against the cool surface of the weapon in an attempt to drown out the painful silence. Heavy's shadow seemed to completely shade the smaller mercenary out, the two of them remaining in stony silence.

"You are not bad fighter. I see you on field, you are very good." Heavy did not look at Pyro, fixing his eyes on the grey road instead.

"Hh… thhnks. Yhh're nhht bhhd yhhrshlf."

"You realise I do not understand you."

Pyro popped open the front of his gas mask again. "You're not bad yourself. You always seem to catch me around corners which is… impressive, given the weight of that minigun."

The faint sound of clanking stopped their conversation there. Quickly ducking into an alley, they barely missed a troop of Soldierbots marching by, their guns ready in case they encountered any mercenaries.

They were incredibly tense as the Soldierbots passed, too ignorant to notice both mercenaries hidden in the shadows of the alley. Only once they passed and the clanking of metal feet faded away did they dare head back out to the street.

"They are patrolling streets. We must tell others." Heavy seemed ready to turn around and head back right there and would have, had Pyro not grabbed his trunk of an arm and tugged him back. The Russian frowned, staring at Pyro's hands wrapped around his arms and waiting in stony silence for an explanation of the violation of personal space.

"There might be more. We need to find out where exactly they're coming from."

"Nyet. We tell the others first. They will know what to do."

"Sure, okay. We tell them, then what? What do you think anyone's going to do with that little information? We need to know where they're coming from. If we can pinpoint where all these robots are coming from, we'll know where that little girl is."

Heavy wasn't convinced at all. "If you go out, you will die. It is just two of us against many robots."

Pyro scowled behind his mask. In a rush of childish stubbornness, he huffed. "Fine. I'm going on my own then. Come look for my body later." The firebug turned and continued down the street. For a moment Heavy decided to just stand there and watch if Pyro would come back when he realised he wasn't following. When Pyro didn't slow and turned down the next street, Heavy found himself following against his ringing internal alarms.

Heavy caught up with Pyro, who was clearly delighted to have had his way. Heavy's frown deepened on his face. "You are very stubborn," he stated. If Pyro reacted, it was concealed by the mask. He just closed the filter back and turned into a building as the sound of conversations floated towards them.

The few, working fluorescent lights hanging above provided just enough light to guide them towards an elevator. The tiny screen with little green LEDs claimed the lift to already be on the ground floor waiting for someone to use, but upon pressing the elevator button once, twice, six times, Pyro decided the LED screen was lying.

Heavy nudged Pyro aside, cracking his knuckles. "Let Heavy do it." He dug his fingers through the gap between the polished doors, struggling a little to get his grip. The doors didn't fight back once he got a firm hold, giving way to the massive pressure asserted on it. Sure enough, the actual elevator cabin was waiting there.

"Ohh… nhhce." Experimentally, Pyro entered the lift and pressed the highest number he could find and much to their surprise, the elevator moved after a second of waiting. In the awkward seconds of waiting for the lift to reach its destination, Pyro fixed his eyes on the screen in the lift, watching the numbers increase as the elevator took them up to the top floor. The cabin gave them a little _ding_ to let them know they had reached their destination floor, the doors opening with a little protest.

"Rhhf acchhss… rhhf acchhss… thhrr!" Pyro headed straight for a door with an acrylic sign that read _Roof Access_ pasted on it, heading out of the dark building and onto the exposed rooftop.

Immediately Pyro went to the edge of the building, leaning over to survey the area. Heavy squinted against the sudden exposure to sunlight. "Why did we come here?" He watched Pyro scurry from edge to edge of the roof, slowly making his way over to join him. When he got to where Pyro was so fixated on something, he realised why Pyro had taking him all the way there.

"Oh…" From the rooftop, a major gathering of robots of all sizes could just be seen on the city streets. It was almost like ants crowding around a dropped piece of chocolate, tiny little things circling a massive blue tank in the center. Olivia was nowhere to be seen amongst the crowd. From the looks of it, the crowd was not growing - that was good. It meant Olivia did not have a mini robot manufacturing plant on her hands. It means she only had a limited supply of robots. But even so, her current supply of robots was huge.

Pyro reached back to his belt for the old walkie talkie, popping open his mask filter and holding the device to his mouth. "Hey guys? We found where Olivia's robots are… and there's a lot of them."

The first static-filled reply came from Spy. "Great, where are you?"

"Some uh… some building. It's… blue and pretty old. I'd fire a flare from here but the robots might see it."

Makina was the next to pick up. _"Oh, so you found Olivia? About how many robots are there?"_

Pyro took a moment to scan the crowd again. "We haven't actually seen Olivia, but there's maybe a few hundreds, and a massive tank."

Whatever Makina said after that was interrupted by Engineer, who had Medibot holding the device while he worked. "Fellas, good news! The prototype is comin' along real nice, should have a proper working one in a few days."

"A few days?" Spy snapped through the walkie talkie, "We do not have a few days."

"Yeah uh, Spy might be right. The robots look like they're spreading out and they might get to our part of town in… maybe 36 hours at the most."

Engineer went silent for a moment, only the sound of a drill whirring. Finally, he responded. "36 hours huh? Well… I'll try. I'll keep y'all updated. You can put it down Medibot."

When no one else responded, Pyro tucked the device back into his belt. "Let's go back."

* * *

36 hours. 36 hours was a very short amount of time. Engineer didn't have that much time to build the perfect long-range sapper, so he tried every prototype he had. Medibot tried not to mind constantly getting sapped, though after the fifth time it was getting tiring. Still, he said nothing about it, letting Engineer do his work. A lot of scrap metal and bit and pieces littered the floor around him, as well as multitude of tools that weren't being used lying around like an audience.

Engineer got off his seat once more, and Medibot knew he was going to get sapped again. This time, he went all the way across the room, as far from Medibot as he could get. The goal was to have the sapper be able to be remote controlled and have as far a range as possible. He placed the small metal device on the floor next to him, biting his lip a little as he activated it.

Nothing. Medibot stared at the device. "Guess it needs a little more work," Engineer mused, turning it off and heading back to his seat.

" _Maybe you can try ah, increasing zhe size of zhe EMP emitter?"_ He suggested. Engineer muttered something in agreement, dismantling the little device again once more. It was going to be a long night for him.

Engineer didn't realise he drifted off to sleep until Spy walked in, shaking him gently. "Wake up." Next to him, the last of his sapper prototypes sat. He hadn't tested it out yet, having left the battery to charge.

"How long was I sleeping?" Engineer asked, his words jumbling up through a yawn. He took the device into his hands once more, intending to continue working on it, though instead his hands merely rested on its cool metal surface. Medibot had since left the room, his and Makina's voice audible from outside, as well as Demoman's.

"Long enough. How's the sapper going?"

"I dunno, I haven't tried this one out yet." Spy gestured to the metal box, silently prompting Engineer to turn it on. The Texan took the remote and flicked the switch on. For a second there was nothing, then the sapper hummed, some sparks were heard outside, and Demoman showed up at the door.

"Oi, what's the big idea lads? The robots were telling a bloody good story, wot ye sap 'em for?" Demoman accused. Immediately Engineer was fueled with energy, excited to know that his sapper had worked. He took it and hurried out, delighted to see both robots temporarily stunned.

Flicking the switch off, both robots whirred back to life, not quite happy with the sudden drain of energy. " _You know, you can inform us next time before you use that thing,"_ Makina hissed, _"but great that it works. And we have… maybe 10 hours left."_

"If ve only have 10 hours left, I suggest ve just take zhe fight to zhem before zhey spread out any furzher. Besides, zhe closer zhey are, zhe more ve can sap, ja?"

"True, true. Anyway we might catch them by surprise. Alright boys, gather up your things! We're gonna take Olivia down today." Pocketing the sapper and the remote, Engineer and the rest of the team hauled their belongings together. The fight was finally coming. It was time to take back what was theirs and make Olivia pay for the deeds of her father.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: It's been really long and a wild ride, but here we are! This is the final chapter. After this, we'll have the epilogue, and that's it! I am planning a sequel so if you liked this, please be sure to follow me as an author so you can be notified when I begin to post the sequel. Thanks for supporting me!**

Dark clouds had begun to roll over the horizon, as if predicting the coming battle. Tension between the small group of mercenaries and the giant robot army grew as both became more and more aware of each others presence.

Still, neither made a move. It was like a chess game that had gone to the point of a standstill, carefully calculating every move and predicting the enemy's response.

The smell of rain began to waft around, though the rain that was threatened by clouds had not yet been released.

"Hm. Rain might be useful. Do you robots short circuit easily?" Spy mused. The smoke that drifted in elegant tendrils from the amber end of his cigarette did little to put the assassin at ease, though he refused to let anyone in on his discomfort and anticipation.

Makina did a quick scan of the clouds. Rain was sure to come within the next hour or so, unless winds picked up and pushed the clouds off first. Unlikely.

"No. Afrer that last incident with the fire sprinkler, I think Gray made everything more waterproof. Olivia wouldn't have cut costs." He paused for a moment. "You're uncomfortable."

Spy frowned, pulling his hood over his head. He didn't think a robot of all things would catch on so quickly. "No, I am not," he said, trying to hide his discomfort.

" _You are. Your posture says it all. Normally you don't cross your arms so close to yourself."_ Makina looked at the Frenchman. "Guess we're going to die if you have bad feelings about things."

Spy pursed his lips, taking a deep drag of his cigarette in a poor attempt to calm his beating heart. The ambers on the ashy end of the stick reignited and brightened, burning away paper and small flakes of ashes falling to the ground.

"We're all going to die at some point. I suppose I just wished for us not to die in such ugly condition." He looked down at his cigarette and tapped the ashes off the end before dropping the stub to the ground and stamping it out.

" _I'd tell you we have a chance, but you wouldn't believe me. Since we're going to die we might as well give it our all. Maybe some stroke of luck will come from our efforts."_ Makina cast his eyes to the ground. Around him the team was preparing to move out and into the fray of battle. It was a rather sad sight. It was like watching people walk to their graves.

He turned his head as a hand touched his shoulder. Medibot stared at him, the mechanisms behind his lenses just barely visible through the blue light as they shifted. _"Zhey're ready. As zhey'll ever be... I suppose."_

Makina nodded. Medibot was clearly as uncomfortable as he was, though he made it a little more obvious.

 _"Are you though?"_ The Sniperbot asked. _"Because if you aren't... I would never ask you to walk into battle."_

Medibot looked away for a moment. " _No. I vill never be ready. But I know you are, and it is only my duty as your personal Medibot and friend to follow and protect you. Zhat's my job."_

If he could smile, he would have. _"Thank you. You know I will do the same."_ He would have said more, but having his upgraded rifle pushed into his hands by Engineer cut him off. The short man nodded to him and turned to pick up the last of his items.

"It's time to go. Ve're all ready," Medic said as he passed the two robots. He had his Medigun in his hands and while he seemed solemn as if he knew the risk of death was high, a lust for revenge burned behind his crystal eyes that were just shaded by his cap.

The team arranged themselves so that they kept their two healers most protected, flanked by Spy on one side and Demoman on the other. Makina seemed to lead the group, Pyro was a little behind him with Engineer. Miss Pauling, Bidwell and Heavy brought up the back.

Very slowly, they made their way towards where Olivia's army swarmed like ants at a crumb.

"When ve get close, ve split up," Medic instructed. "Spy vill go on his own in a disguise into the heart of the robots. Demoman, Makina and I vill cause a distraction on zhe east side, causing zhe robots to swarm zhere. Spy vill zhen sap zhem, leaving a relatively clear path straight to Olivia." He paused for a moment and let the group soak in the information. "Easier said zhan done, of course."

They fell into a hushed silence as the sound of robots got terrifyingly close and loud. The fringes of the colony were just visible, and the group split up as instructed. Spy disguised into a Scoutbot and cloaked, disappearing completely from sight. Demoman, Medic and Makina broke away from the group and rounded to the east side, everyone else laying in wait for their signals.

Pyro noticed Bidwell looking rather uncomfortable. He squat down next to the suited man and unclipped the ventilator of his mask so his voice wouldn't come out muffled. "You alright?"

Bidwell exhaled, irises wide with adrenaline. "Yeah, I'm okay. Just a little nervous. I mean, I've encountered the robots before but there's so many out there."

Pyro awkwardly reached out a hand to pat his shoulder. His hand was shockingly warm through the rubber suit. "I wish I could tell you we're going to be fine but we're probably going to die. At least you'll see some friendly faces in hell." Bidwell couldn't help but chuckle a little at the joke, though the icy feel of fear gripped harder at his heart once the humour was gone.

Pyro gave him a little thumbs up and clipped the ventilator back. Bidwell noticed the grip on his flamethrower had tightened considerably.

Spy had wedged himself into the colony of robots, feeling incredibly uncomfortable within the sea of metal, but managing to maintain his cool. He had the modified sapper with him, silently praying to whatever God there was that it would not fail him.

The robots seemed mostly idle, roaming around in a small area but always on the watch for mercenaries. Idle beeping that was irritatingly almost in sync rang out through the ghostly town.

All was quiet while the distraction prepared themselves. Demoman had set a clever stickybomb trap so their distraction could also blow up some robots while they were there. Makina had taken position up on a low roof where he was lining up his shot to destroy as many robots in one go. Medic had everyone overhealed and an Ubercharge ready in case things turned pear shaped. Engineer had disappeared to build a sentry in a corner.

"Ready lads?" Demoman asked. He loaded the last grenade into his launcher, clutching the weapon tight in his hands. The plan was to fire a grenade into the cluster, blowing up at least four of them and alerting the rest. They would then charge for the team and right into the stickybomb trap, destroying at least another eight of them. The rest was sentry work as Spy sapped them.

The level three sentry beeped quietly, Engineer giving a thumbs up. Spy was getting antsy in the swarm. What was taking so long? He was ready to leave and check on things when a faint pop was heard and a blinking red grenade arched in the air, landing somewhere off to the left in the middle of a cluster of robots. The following explosion brought shared of metal and parts flying around and the robots began to move.

The plan was good so far. Spy following along, pretending to reload the fake weapon in his hands as robots all around him pushed and shoved to get first blood.

A fizz and boom told Spy a sticky trap had gone off, pushing the robots back a little. As soon as the robots got into proximity of the sentry carefully perched on a low roof, things turned hectic. Robots dropped and sparked and screamed static all around him and t was absolute madness. The Frenchman weaved his way cleverly through the robots, going deeper into the swarm. He wanted the biggest range he could get on the sapper.

He was thankful for the lack of spatial awareness the robots had. None of them bothered to check their surroundings for Spies, all too eager to kill the known mercenaries. It allowed him to easily weave through the swarm till he got to where he decided was a good place. With a swift move, he grabbed the nearest robot and jammed the sapper onto it.

The little device got to work. It began to pull energy to keep itself running, robots all around him screeching and halting where they were, doubling over limply. He took the golden opportunity to backstab as many as he could as the distraction team fled their position and joined back with the rest.

The others were not having it so good. The distraction had not attracted as many robots as planned, leaving the rest with having to shoot and burn and cut their way through thin waves.

The attacks were simple and predictable, and relatively easy to fend off. The mercenaries had seen enough robots to know how each of them fought. Miss Pauling and Bidwell were having less of a good time.

Bidwell hadn't noticed the trembles through the ground as the massive Soldier stormed up and loaded its barrage of overcharged rockets as he pistoled the robots around him with elegance and slight distress. Pyro caught on quickly as he heard the deep _boosh_ of rocket launches. He grabbed Bidwell and yanked him behind his flamethrower, standing his ground in the face of gleaming blue rockets.

If Bidwell yelled something, Pyro didn't hear it. Blood was roaring in the pyromaniac's ears as he waited for the rockets to get a little closer. With a strong blast of air, the rockets reflected and turned back on their shooter with impressive speeds. The giant soldier had no time to react before the rockets blew itself up. Pyro blasted a ring of fire around them to push the robots back a little and give Bidwell time to recover before he disappeared into the fray again. The suited assistant stared in shock after him, heart slamming against his chest.

Heavy had been Ubercharged, mowing down any robot that tried to get close while laughing off bullets and rockets that uselessly bounced off and exploded against him. Behind him, Medic had a vicious snarl that could kill. His Vril powers kept the Ubercharge running for longer, couple with a protective barrier he could use once the invincibility wore off.

The robots surged on in wave after wave, coming from all sides. A growing pile of scrap metal was forming at the feet of the mercenaries, hands reaching for something they'd never touch. The pile of metal served as a good barrier against the oncoming robots - it was easier to gun them down as they clambered over smoking metal in an attempt to reach the mercenaries. It was like that, that the mercenaries pushed their way through the crowd.

The ground trembled once more, forcing the mercenaries to turn their attention to a massive Heavybot. It stood taller than a tank, the minigun in his hands not mini at all. Behind it trailed four giant Medics, their healing beams trained on the giant. It stared down at them, glaring like God that was determined to send all of them to hell.

"Move it!" Spy snapped. The team split apart, scattering and shielding themselves with scattered metal bodies on the ground. Half of them ducked into an alleyway, the other half scrambling for cover behind thin pillars that didn't seem like they were going to stand very long against the vicious rain of bullets.

The Heavybot stormed past, not quite firing as it couldn't sense any mercenaries around. Pyro peeked out from behind the pillar, retreating just as the Heavy clicked and turned, firing in his way. Hot, white pain shot up his arm as a bullet clipped it, Pyro gasping in pain. Instinctively, he reached up to clutch at the bleeding wound.

"Ye okay lad?" Demoman asked from the other pillar. He shied away from the edge of the pillar as a bullet pinged off it, carrying chips of cement with it.

Pyro shoved the pain into the furthest reaches of his mind, where horrible things lurked. He nodded, managing a thumbs up. Once the Heavybot stormed by, leaving Pyro in a position where he could sneak up from behind without being detected, he made a move. Gesturing for Demoman to follow, they left their hiding spot, following the Medibots behind.

The Heavybot was still oblivious to them following, searching around for the mercenaries. It never once did turn behind until heat seared from the back and both its Medibot crumbled under heat. Pyro yelped as the flamethrower clicked empty. He knew standing in the face of a giant Heavybot was no good, and threw himself to the side. In hindsight, it was a terrible idea as pain jolted through his arm again.

Medibot hauled Pyro to his feet, quickly training the Medigun onto him. Relief flooded Pyro as the blue beams healed up the bullet graze, leaving the firebug feeling energised and ready to go again. He unclipped his ventilator. "We can't fight that." His voice was laced with panic and stress.

 _"_ _You can't, but he can."_ Medibot gestured up to the roof where Makina still remained. The Sniperbot was lining up his sights onto the Heavybot, waiting patiently for the rifle to charge up. A small ping told him the rifle was ready and at max power, and he stilled his inner processors as he pulled down the trigger.

The Heavybot screeched as the bullet drove past its internal processors and straight through the battery. A horrid, acid smell came as the contents of the battery leaked, pooling out of the Heavybot as it crashed to the ground. Makina waved to them.

 _"_ _It's a clear route to Olivia now. Get going before she sends more robots!"_ Medibot shoved Pyro back out into the open, the rest of the team following. They ran across the street, leaping over crushed and burnt metal. The massive blue tanker was only several metres away, but standing in front of it were two robots - a Pyro and a Medic, and Olivia.

She watched them with cruel, cat-like eyes, her lips formed into a tight line. She looked older than she should have seemed. She also looked ready to murder.

The team slowed down, coming to stop a respectable distance from Olivia. She crossed her arms.

"You killed my father. You killed my entire army of robots. Which is impressive, to say the least. A scraggly group of six mercenaries, two office assistants and two robots I should have incinerated a long time ago? You made it awfully far." She took a step backward. "Now I'd like to introduce my two latest inventions. All that research my father put in, all that planning he did to capture the two of you? It's paid off. I didn't need to have to physically with me to know how to create the perfect mercenary. Watching you already gave me all I needed to know."

Medic narrowed his eyes. The newest Medibot looked scarily like him - with legs instead of a wheel, and a similar hat to his own. It was slightly unnerving. The Pyrobot also looked scarily like Pyro himself. Light gleamed in Olivia's eyes and her mouth set back into a tight line. "Robots. Get them."

Both robots by her side activated, eyes lighting up and their gears running smooth as honey. As they walked, the Medibot's hands sparked with blue energy and the Pyrobot's, fire.

"Stay back," Medic instructed. He and Pyro nodded to each other, walking up to their metal counterparts. The mercenaries behind them readied their weapons in anticipation.

Medic was content to wait for the first move, but Pyro wasn't so patient. He lunged, hands catching fire. The Pyrobot mirrored his actions, easily swatting him away. It punched at him, flames going dangerously near to Pyro. On the other side, Medic had attacked as well. The two pairs began to wrestle with each other, fire and energy channelling through the air.

Every punch was deflected and every move predicted, and Pyro became scarily aware of how the Pyrobot seemed to be able to know how to counter his every hit, every blast of fire. It was like it was a clone of him with the same mind, but made of metal.

Medic was having the same trouble. No matter what he did, the Medibot could counter it with ease and efficiency.

Engineer had his shotgun aimed at the angry firefight going on, flames bursting into the air. He wanted to shoot, but he couldn't for fear of hitting their own Pyro in the back. Makina had joined the watching group. _"Aren't any of you going to do something?"_ He hissed.

"We can't shoot or we might hit our own team."

 _"_ _Not them, Olivia's gone!"_ The sudden realisation of Olivia's disappearance struck them, followed by the sound of the tanker starting up, had the mercenaries running straight for the open hatch. By the time they got to the tanker, the hatch was barely open. Makina had just barely enough time to jump up and scramble through before it slammed shut, leaving everyone else outside.

The inside of the tanker felt foreign and constricting. Makina shook his head, as if it would help ease the tension. Normally bot deployment carrier tanks weren't this empty, but now when it was so empty… it was somehow more constricting.

Makina weaved his way around through the tank. Working with Gray personally had taught him his way around the tanker better than any other robot, and he found the driver's hatch with little problem. Olivia was in the driver's seat, and if the situation wasn't so dire, Makina would have found the size of the chair compared to Olivia quite comical.

Drawing his kukri, he approached, grabbing the top of the chair and swivelling it around. He did not expect Olivia to have a shotgun in her hands.

* * *

Pyro rolled to the ground again, just barely dodging the next blast of fire. The battle was getting tiring, and unfortunately for him and Medic, humans got tired. The robots were still countering their moves flawlessly, tirelessly. There wasn't going to be and end to it until one of them tripped up.

"Zhis is ridiculous," Medic panted, hands sore from constantly being deflected by the Medibot. His fight was a little less aggressive than the Pyros, but it was clear the Medibot was still out to kill him. "If… if zhey can only mirror our moves zhen…" He parried off a punch. "Pyro!"

"Whh!" Pyro made another blast of fire, growling in exasperation as it was dodged. The metal on the Pyrobot remained shining, not a single burn on it.

"Switch vith me! Zhey only know our own moves, but we've trained togezher! We can fight zhem off!"

Pyro seemed to get the idea. He got to his feet, making a run for it before the Pyrobot could chase him. Medic gripped the Pyrobot, swinging it onto the ground. He knew how to fight it without getting burned himself. Countless days of post-battle training with Pyro had taught him many tricks. The robots however, had no idea how to counter this new foe. It stumble, confused, and aggressively blasting fire wherever it thought Medic would be.

Likewise for Pyro, he had a far easier time fighting the Medibot. He blasted flame after flame, catching it here, there, everywhere. His knuckles were sore from all the punching, and he began to use long range attacks more. Twisting around, he hauled himself up onto the Medibot back, searing its face with his hands. The metal melted under his hands, and Pyro must have underestimated how hot it could be. The rubber gloves did nothing to protect himself from the burning metal, and he leapt off, biting back a pained screech as he ripped off the gloves to stares at the red burns.

Medic charged up his energy and released it in a powerful blast of electricity. It coursed through his body harmlessly and out of it, striking the Pyrobot with full force. It shrieked and screamed static, smoke billowing out as its circuits fried. When the energy dissipated, it slumped to the floor in a smoking black pile.

He turned to find Pyro doubled over on the floor, hands awfully red. Kneeling down, he carefully took Pyro's hands in his. The doctor was tired and to heal his hands would drain him of all his energy, but his morals didn't let him not do anything about it. He let the last bits of his energy heal the Pyro's hands, before he himself slumped back into a sitting position.

"Hhh…" Pyro unclipped his ventilator. "Thanks man. Oh boy." He lay down on his back, pulling off the gas mask as a whole and running a hand through his hair. "Thanks. I owe you."

Medic watched him with tired eyes. "It's nozhing." His gaze drifted to the tanker. "I vonder how Makina is doing."

* * *

Makina stared hard the the small girl with the giant shotgun. Just like with the chair she was seated in, the size dynamic was quite comical. He didn't say anything about it.

"Congratulations. You found me," Olivia sneered. "But are you going to kill me?"

Makina took a step forward, and Olivia cocked her shotgun. She had a little bit of trouble holding it. "I killed that stupid Scout, and I will have no problem killing you too."

The grip on the kukri tightened. _"You know I'm not afraid of dying, Olivia. You know I'm not afraid of getting shot. I have no reason to be."_

"Okay." Olivia fired the shotgun. The bullets blasted off his looser arm. Makina made no more room for thought. He did a quick search in all his files and dragged back up the one he'd been trying to suppress for months.

 _human_ active._

All his human emotions were suppressed in that moment, and he didn't realise his own cold, calculated movements as he ducked the second shot and thrusted the kukri forward. A shriek and splattering blood brought him back to his senses. In front of him, Olivia's face had frozen into one of horror and anger, the kukri straight through her chest and out the other side of the chair. Blood continued to stream around it.

He turned the chair away from him and reached forward to turn off the tank's engine, before leaving without looking back. The base of his feet left bloody footprints on the floor.


	22. Epilogue

"Mission begins in ten seconds."

The REDs howled and taunted at the BLUs behind the gate, bashing at the yellow steel that separated the two teams. In return, insults were thrown at the REDs. It was a violent verbal fight in the seconds leading up to the gates opening.

Snipers on both sides felled their targets before retreating to a new hiding spot. Ubercharges were activates, rockets launched, flares shot. Backs were stabbed, heads were shot, Scouts were gunned down by strategically placed sentries. Bodies were gibbed, limbs ripped.

Makina watched all of this with a new fascination, from the window of BLU's fort. It had only been two weeks since the survivors' return to 2Fort. They had found the entire place rebuilt, dead mercenaries reanimated by hard work at saving their DNA from respawn. It had been a shame that Scout could not have been revived by the complex system.

The Administrator had initially not been keen to let the robots go and had ordered their execution, but a lot of convincing and bargaining from the mercenaries and Miss Pauling had her relenting, on the condition that neither bot was allowed onto the field during battles and were not to exchange intelligence between teams.

That was fine with him. He had no interest in assisting either team, and neither did Medibot. The other robot was housed over at RED, furthering research their Medic had started.

From his perspective, it seemed the mercenaries who had worked together previously had forgotten their past alliance, easily and brutally murdering each other. He caught Spy backstabbing Heavy with ease, Medic laughing as he stabbed Demoman to death with his Ubersaw, Pyro brutally chasing Medic down with his flamethrower, Heavy gunning down Engineer and his sentry. He also noticed the tiny nods of respect passed between them when they ran into each other on the field.

He sighed. Ever since he'd settled into Mann Co territory, Engineer had taken the time to properly upgrade him and fix him up. His loose arm was no longer loose and didn't fall off anymore, his metal polished and shining again. He didn't delete any of his old files, keeping them stored away in a folder hidden deep, deep down in his system.

Across the fort, he could just see Medibot rolling around by the window of RED's infirmary, studiously working on a project he wouldn't quite place. Medibot didn't once look up to wave, too busy with research.

Howls of delight came from below as BLU captured RED's intelligence for the third time, signalling the end of the round. The REDs turned and fled back to their base to escape humiliation, BLUs hot on their heels for that satisfying last kill. Makina turned away from the window, deciding not to be seen peering out onto the bloodied field.

He nodded to Horst as he passed on his way back to his office. The tired doctor offered a hint of a smile to the Sniperbot, retreating quickly into his office. Makina had nothing to say to him, quietly heading out of BLU and over the field to RED. The blood and gore was slowly fading away, bits and pieces cleaned up by respawn. Only a few stubborn stains remained settled in the old wood and dry ground, serving as reminders of the murder committed every day on the field.

RED mostly left him alone when he went to see Medibot, leaving him alone to roam the halls. Coming to rest at the double doors of the RED Medic's office where Medibot now worked, he knocked and patiently waited for a response before letting himself in.

Medibot was scribbling furiously at a piece of paper, rolling between that and a table full of metal bits and bobs. Engineer was there as well, tinkering with a little device. He turned around as Makina entered, delighted to see the Sniperbot.

 _"_ _Ah, good zhat you are here! Herr Engineer and I vere just developing an upgrade zhat vould allow you to function at a higher level - a full range of emotions included."_ He rolled up to the taller robot, stopping short of a respectable distance. _"If you vant, zhat is. I know zhat you've alvays vanted to feel more human, so I included all zhe emotions Herr Engineer and I could zhink of. I added some of zhe bad ones as vell, but I can always remove them if you vant."_

Medibot seemed so eager to please, Makina couldn't say no. _"It's awfully kind of you to have gone through all the trouble. I'll go ahead with it."_

Medibot's eyes brightened up as he pulled a chair up for him. _"Ve'll have to shut you down so if zhings go wrong ve can fix it."_

Makina sat down without complaint, leaning his head back on the edge of the chair. There was a certain thrill to it, and he wondered what new emotions would feel like. A tingle of excitement for what the future brought buzzed at his fingertips, fading away as one by one his processes shut down, and the world went black.

 **A/N: That's officially the end! Please remember to follow me if you want to be notified of the sequel, and thanks for supporting!**


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